Game of Hearts
by WingBladeWeaver1357
Summary: Tomboy-ish, fearless, weird, careless, childish, short-tempered, a bit stupid, lazy, too trusting, a bad cook, adorable, dense... That's how they describe her. She was just lazing around, wanting to go back on another exciting adventure. And she got one. She just doesn't expect the adventure she wanted was in her own secret garden. (Slight crossover with Kingdom Hearts). OC.
1. Mission 1: Down the Rabbit Hole

**A/N: A new story~ I just had to get this one off of my mind so I can update my other stories~ ^^". I'll try to update every KH, TF, and crossover story I have!**

**I'm not sure about calling this story as a crossover because I'm using my OC, but they're mentions of KH in other chapters… So at the mean time, I'll just call this as a normal ^^**

**I think that KH don't do romance because it's an adventure/fantasy/friendship. Unless of course, it's an AU. So that's my reason why I put this story as a normal to J/C/HnKnA ^^**

**Explanations about KH are at the other A/N if you're not familiar with the game ^^**

**Hikari © me**

**Mentions of KH characters and KH places © Square Enix**

**Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice © QuinRose**

* * *

3=~x~X~x~=E

"Hey, did you know?

Games always have rules

Rules that are meant to be broken

There are rules for those who don't play the game, too

It's decided from the beginning

You knew that, right?

I await your participation. You can't refuse."

3=~x~X~x~=E

* * *

Mission 1  
Down the Rabbit Hole

* * *

3=~x~X~x~=E

The sun was shining brightly with a gentle warm breeze beneath the cloudless sky of Radiant Garden. A brunette was sleeping peacefully underneath the shade of an oak tree. It was one of the only places where she could sleep peacefully. The place was somehow deserted by the citizens and there was no Heartless lurking around to kill her. The secret garden is what she called it. The garden was located near the edge of town, the place where people would usually avoid because they thought it was dangerous. Truly, it's not _that_ dangerous.

The brunette lay on the cool grass as the wind kept on blowing gently, carrying leaves and flower petals to the air. A hand reached up its way to her forehead covering her eyes slightly as she began to open them slowly. The sunlight was still too bright for her—even though she was under the shade of the oak tree. She groaned quietly as she tried to go back to sleep. A silhouette came into view as it was seen above her.

"Geez! I never thought you'll still be lazing around, Hikari!" The silhouette giggled softly as she smiles down at the sleeping brunette.

"Wha—," The dazed brunette named Hikari began, not even finishing her sentence when the silhouette became clearer as her vision focused. Her eyes widened in surprise and shock as she was startled by the sudden appearance. "KAIRI! What—how—when did you get here?!" she jolted up into a sitting position, scrambling away from the red-haired teen.

Kairi giggled as she crouched down with a smile on her face. "I've been here since five minutes ago, you lazy bum!" She said, another giggle escaping her lips. Bright ocean blue eyes were seen as she looked at the startled brunette. "You were just too sleepy to even realize I was standing there! By the way, you missed another meeting." She continues, the soft smile still not leaving her lips.

Hikari grinned sheepishly as she scratched the back of her neck. "Whoops... Looks like time really do fly when you're sleeping under an oak tree!" She joked a little, looking over nervously at her red headed friend. She earned a laugh after her lame excuse. "What did I miss?" She asked.

Kairi cocked her head to the side with a finger on her chin. "Hmmm," she hummed, thinking over the meeting. "Nothing much really… Cid just updated his Claymore, Leon wants to make Sora a bit more serious about meetings, and Riku's mad that you missed out on the meeting." She said.

Hikari gulped as her face losses color. "R-Riku's MAD?! He isn't mad now, is he? Because I'm totally dead if he's mad right now! He's probably looking for me now! Hide me Kairi! Don't let him find me! I don't want to go back scrubbing the whole castle with my toothbrush!" The brunette whines.

The red-haired teen laughed full-heartedly. "Don't worry, Hikari," She placed a comforting hand on the panicked brunette's shoulder. "Riku wouldn't do that now, right? We've been friends since we were little. I'm sure he'll never force you to clean the whole entire castle with your toothbrush." She smiled.

"Oh no! You're wrong, Kairi! Really, really, really wrong!" Hikari screamed, placing both her hands on her head as she paces around. "The last time I pissed him off, he force me to clean the whole castle and the whole town! It took me all day to get rid of the trash around! Especially when he hired someone to throw them!" she frantically screamed.

Kairi sighed with a small smile, "That's because you've 'doodled' on his face and tied his hair in pigtails. You know that he's sensitive when it comes to faces and hairs." She said.

Hikari grinned proudly. "Well… it _was_ one of my best works." She said as she puffed her chest out. After a few seconds, she snapped back to reality. A loud sigh escape her lips as she slumps down to the grassy ground, rubbing the back of her neck. "Man… I'm so dead…" She mumbled under her breath.

"Yeah… you're so dead," A voice said from behind the two girls. The two girls turned around and found a silver-haired teen, standing with his arms crossed above his chest. The glare he was giving to the brunette was enough to make her scoots away from him to hide behind the red-haired teen. A sigh escaped from the silver-haired lips as he rubbed his temples. "What am I going to do to you, Hikari? You're just as lazy as your brother." He said, shaking his head.

"Hey! I'm not as lazy as he is!" Hikari argued as she pointed a finger at the taller teen.

The silver-haired teen smirked, "Oh really? At least he attended today's meeting," he said, a shock expression was seen on Hikari's face as she heard her brother attended a meeting. A meeting that he usually avoids! "Well… even though he slept through the whole meeting. At least he _came_." The silver-haired teen continued.

Kairi laughed nervously, "C'mon, Riku… no need to be so uptight." She began as she sweat-dropped, placing her hands in front of her. "Hikari's just too tired to attend the meeting, I'm sure she didn't mean to miss out on the meeting, right Hikari?" She turned to the brunette.

The brunette quickly nodded her head, "Yeah! Pleeeeese, Riku? Let me off with another warning?" She folded her hands together as she did her best puppy-dog-eyes look on Riku. It didn't work with Leon or Cloud, but it did work on her brother, Sora. Maybe if she tries harder, it would work on Riku too. "Kairi also said that it wasn't that important!" she pouted.

A visible vein popped on Riku's forehead as his lips twitched in annoyance. "Well… I was going to let you out with another warning, but… since you said that…" He trailed off, placing his hand on his chin, thinking.

Hikari's eyes widened, thinking that he was actually thinking of a punishment. "NOOOO! Please Riku! I didn't mean for it to slip out! Please! I'll do anything except clean the castle and the town!" she pleaded with tears whelming up her eyes.

"Okay," Riku smiled as he turned to the brunette. He wasn't going to punish her, but she insisted for a punishment. "How about traveling around the Lanes in Between? You want to travel around again, right?" He asked.

Hikari blinked a few times. "Really?! I can go travel around the worlds again?! Yay! You're the best Riku! I almost thought that you would ask me to rub your stinky feet or something!" She hugged the taller teen by his knees.

Riku's eye twitched as he scowled. "What was that?" He growled.

Hikari paled as Kairi laughed nervously. "N-Nothing! It was nothing! I just said that I—uh was afraid that you would ask me to—um —uh rub Cid's! Yeah _Cid's_ stinky feet!" She corrected herself as she scratched the back of her head. A nervous laugh filled the air.

Riku sighed, "Fine… Now go on… You can leave now. Just be careful when traveling to a new world. Don't meddle or else." He said, running his fingers through his hair.

Hikari frowns, "Boo~ no fun! We always meddle with every world we came across!" She crossed her arms over her chest.

Riku turned around with a glare, enough to make the brunette gulped. "Ugh… Just try not to meddle okay?" He sighed, turning around to head back to the castle. The two girls stared at his back as he shoved his hands into his pockets. He raised a hand up to wave goodbye. "Oh and Hikari? I'm telling Cid." A smirk was seen on his face as he said with a smug tone.

Hikari's jaw dropped. She slump her shoulders down as she rubbed her temples worriedly. "Oh man… Cid's gonna kill me with his flamethrower!" She grumbles as she leaned against the tree trunk.

Kairi giggled. Hikari stared at her red-haired friend. She was just beautiful. Her shoulder length red hair was gently blown by the gentle breeze. Her blue eyes were sparkling, matching her pale toned skin. Her skin was flawless, not a single scar, bruise, or scratches was on her skin. Even though it has been years, she still wore the same the white dress under the strapless zip up pink dress with two fake zippers, but in a bigger size of course. Her personality also matches her appearance. She's a really polite, nice, brave, and a funny girl. Everybody likes her, even stinky and grumpy Cid. Sora's a lucky really guy for going out with a girl like her.

Unlike Kairi, Hikari was an average seventeen year old girl. Her brown hair was cut short to make fighting more easily. Her light blue eyes didn't sparkle—it only sparkled a little if she decides to use her puppy-eyes. Her skin was a bit tan-ish because she spends too much time under the sun, training. Her skin wasn't flawless, a few scratches were seen on her arm because of the previous fight she had with some random Heartless. A sticky bandage was plastered on her right cheek, since she didn't want to waste magic and potions just for minor wounds. Her clothing was considered… not feminine in the slightest. Her attitude doesn't fit her age. A few citizens didn't appreciate their stores being messed up, but it was worth it. She never did want to grow up anyway.

Hikari looked away with a faint blush. _'Huh… I wish I was like Kairi…'_ She thought. Her mind was thinking about any possibilities if she was like Kairi. Suddenly, a snicker escaped her lips. _'Nah! I like my old self better! This keyblade wielder ain't changing for anyone!'_ she grinned to herself, earning a confused look from Kairi.

"What's so funny?" Kairi asked with a small smile.

"Nothing! I was just thinking of something!" Hikari replied cheerfully, giving Kairi a wink. The brunette dropped down to the grass while her hands were crossed behind her head used as a pillow. The voices she heard a few minutes ago were back, her mind playing back the two voices saying something about rules and games. It was weird, she knows that every game hair its own rules. She doesn't need to be told again. Who exactly was telling her this anyway? Her eyes suddenly snapped open. Dull blue eyes were seen, starring at the shaking branches of the tree above her. "So… Let the games begin." She whispered.

"Huh? What was that?" Kairi turned her head towards Hikari confusedly.

Hikari blinked a few times before positioning herself to a sitting position. "Uh… Nothing… I was just thinking aloud." She scratched the back of her head. Where did that come from?

Kairi giggled. "I know! You just wanted to play a game!" She clapped her hands together.

"A Game?" Hikari repeated with a chuckle. "The only game I want to play is run away from Riku when he's mad!" She laughed as she slapped her knee.

Kairi pouted, hands on her hips. "I wasn't talking about that kind of game." She sighed, shaking her head with a hand on her forehead. Hikari gave her a confused look. "I was talking about a game of cards!" she smiled happily.

"Cards? You mean cards? As is cards, cards? Not the walking talking cards at Wonderland right? Because if it is… I ain't playing with them." Hikari made an X with her two arms, shaking her head slightly.

Kairi let out a giggle before correcting the brunette, "No, silly! I wasn't talking about that kind of cards!" She burst into giggled as Hikari placed on a dumbfound look. "I was talking about the ordinary cards. You know the ones we used to play with?" she asked.

Hikari tapped her chin, thinking hard. "Ah!" She snapped her fingers, remembering the old memories. "You mean the deck of cards we used to build castles with? And the ones we used to play as a hide and get as many of the cards! Is that it? Are we playing those again? Because I think that it's not a good idea to play castle cards out here. It's windy." She crossed her arms.

"I think those are the smartest words I heard coming out from you for the past week." Kairi laughed as Hikari's cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. "And yes, those are the cards. We're going to play before you leave on your next adventure." She smiled, getting up as she patted the grass off her bottom.

"Just try not to fall asleep while I'm gone, okay?" Kairi asked as she turned her gaze over her shoulder.

Hikari cupped her mouth, "I'll try!" she shouted loudly.

The last thing Hikari heard was Kairi's giggle.

The brunette lay back down to the cold grass, admiring the nice weather at Radiant Garden. The cloudless sky was letting the sunlight shined brightly to the world, but luckily she was underneath the oak tree, laying on the shades. The gentle breeze was soothing her to go back to sleep. A loud yawn escape her lips as her eyes were getting heavier by the second she stares into the sky. She tried her best not to go back to sleep because Kairi would be back any second, but she fails to do so.

'_Maybe Kairi wouldn't mind me sleeping for a few minutes…'_ Hikari thought as she placed a hand on her forehead. Her eyes lids were closing slowly, almost drifting to sleep. _'I mean… I did say I'll try to stay awake…'_ she reasoned.

A few minutes passed by like seconds. The wind was picking up speed a little as it made a 'whooshing' sound. The brunette was still asleep, not waking up anytime soon, until someone decides to wake her up, but no one did. She ignore every sounds around her, the only in her mind was sleep, one of her favorite thing to do. Another few minutes pass by and still no sign of Kairi coming back with those cards, not that the brunette knows anyway. She was still asleep.

Rustling sounds could be heard for a nearby bush. Hikari ignored the rustling sound, thinking it was just a wild animal—a rabbit or a raccoon or something. Whatever it is, it's probably harmless. Oh how wrong she is. The rustling sound continues as it came closer to the brunette. A small rabbit appeared from the bushing with a look. The rabbit came closer to the brunette, who was still ignoring it.

"Pssst!" A voice whispered into Hikari's ear. She simple waved it off, thinking it was just the wind. "Pssst! Wake up! Hey! Wake up!" The voice whispered a bit louder.

The brunette's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as she cracked open an eye lid to glare at the person who dared disturb her slumber. A figure of a rabbit came into view—scratch that—a rabbit with _clothes_ to be exact. Hikari quickly closed her eyes again in irritation. Her brown eyebrows were furrowed down as she ignored the well-dressed rabbit.

'_It's that stupid rabbit from Wonderland…' _Hikari thought bitterly as she closed her eye tightly while the rabbit kept on 'psst-ing' for her to wake up. _'Better move before he steps on my head again.' _she continued as she scooted away from the rabbit.

"Pssst! Please wake up!" The rabbit continued to whisper in her ears, shaking her.

A visible vein popped on Hikari's forehead as she continued to ignore the stupid rabbit. _'Ugh… What now? He wants me to move again? Fine!'_ She scooted away from the rabbit once more. _'There, you stupid rabbit. Just hop away and leave me in peace.'_ She sighed. The well-dressed rabbit kept on shaking her while whispering in her ear to wake up. '_Ugh… Just step on my head and get it over with, you stupid rabbit!'_ Her eyebrow twitched as the rabbit never stop.

"What do you want, rabbit?" Hikari asked in annoyance as her back was faced to the rabbit.

"You!" The rabbit shouted.

"Me?" Hikari asked, still not paying any attention to the annoying rabbit.

"Yes, you! You're supposed to follow me!" The rabbit shouted again, pointing a finger at the sleeping brunette.

"Uh-huh…" Hikari began, still not facing the rabbit. "Yeah right… you're just going to step on my head again like last time, right? I've been through this. C'mon, step on my head, I _dare_ you." She hissed out, narrowed her eyes.

"W-What? What are you talking about?!" The rabbit stuttered before stomping angrily against the ground. Hikari let out a heavy sigh before rolling to her other side, facing the rabbit with a bored and an annoyed look on her face. "You have to chase me!" He yelled.

Hikari stared at the rabbit, observing him—she presumes that the rabbit is a 'he'. It was rather… cute, despite the attitude. "Look here, Rabbit… I normally hug cute things, but you just annoyed me, okay? I think you're the one who's supposed to follow me. You're lost right? I can get you back to your world. Just give me a minute or two." She lazily got up to a sitting position, scratching the back of her head.

The rabbit sighed as he reached into his inner jacket pocket. He grabbed a big pocket watch observing the time. "Oh dear… At this rate we'll be late! Well, it can't be helped." A poof of smoke appeared around the rabbit as it transform to a man with bunny ears stinking out of his head. Hikari eyed him carefully with a straight expression. It was a normal sight for her to see, she has seen worse. "Now, up you go!" He swung Hikari over his shoulder swiftly.

"What the—HANDS OFF RABBIT!" Hikari screamed loudly as she tried to punch the rabbit square on his face.

"Please don't scream in my ear," The rabbit said with a small smile. Hikari squirm in his strong arms. She pulled on his white fluffy ears as strong as she can, trying to plug it out of his head. "My dear, you're pulling on my ear." He said calmly, that smile still stuck on his face.

"Yeah, I'm trying to pull it out! You're insane, you rabbit!" Hikari shouted loudly at his ears, making his cringe a little. He didn't throw her to the ground or hit her, no, he simple laugh at the brunette's actions. "Put me down! I can walk by myself, you insolent rabbit!" she argued.

"No can do, my dear," The human-rabbit began as he ran towards a hole. Hikari remembered digging a hole in the secret garden for her prank, but she also remembers that she already covered it up because Riku told her to. "I'll put you down when we get there. We're going into that hole." He smiled.

"That hole?! I thought I already covered it up!" Hikari yelled loudly once more before gripping on the man's bunny ears tightly. She may be a girl, but she has a really strong grip. The human-rabbit jumped into the large hole. The both of them were falling into the abyss of the dark pit. "Idiot! We're both gonna die if you don't come here! I can fly us out of this stupid mess!" She yelled to the top of her lungs, reaching her hand out to the man.

The human-rabbit seemed a bit surprised. "Why, I seriously doubt a fall like this would kill you," He smiled again… in this kind of situation?

"YOU IDIOT!" Hikari's instincts were kicking in as the bottom was near. The bottom of the pit was surprisingly bright. She struggled to grab the human-rabbit man, but manage to grab on his ears once more. She quickly pulled the man against her, trying to make the fall less hurtful for him. Her eyebrows furrowed down as she embrace herself to the ground or floor or water. She was still hugging the human-rabbit man with her eyes closed, that she didn't even know they both landed safely on the stoned floor.

"My, my, you must surely love me, my dear." The human-rabbit man chuckled as Hikari snapped her eyes wide open. She quickly pushed him aside, letting him fall face first on the floor. He smiled as he pushed his glasses up. "I really enjoy the sound of your heart, my dear." He continued.

"Stop calling me 'my deer', rabbit!" Hikari huffed. The human-rabbit man chuckled before offering his hand to her. The brunette took it and brushed the dust off her pants. "The name's Hikari and what's the big idea dragging me down a hole!" she demanded.

"Then you must stop calling me, rabbit, my dear." The human-rabbit said, placing a hand over his chest with a small smile plastered on his face. Hikari's tongue clicked in annoyance, making a 'tsk' sound. "My name is Peter White, do not forget my dear Hikari." he bowed a little.

"Like I'll ever forget a name!" Hikari smirked, crossing her arms over her chest. She thought for a moment and remembered that she used to forget about that man's name. What was his name again? Dumple… Grumple… Doople… or was it Rumple-something-something? Nah, nobody ever remembers his name anyway. The brunette shrugged her shoulders. She turned to this so called Peter White. He was almost the spitting image of the White Rabbit in Wonderland—who always steps on her head like her head was somehow a path or something. "So… Peter White was it? Where are we anyway?" The brunette asked as she walked towards the edge.

"Why, be careful, my dear Hikari, we don't want you to fall now, do we?" Peter White appeared right next to her, one hand was placed on the stoned railing and the other on Hikari's shoulder, pulling her close to him. Hikari was too busy observing the scene. It was beautiful! The fair land was peaceful, not a single fuss was going on around. "Very majestic isn't it? You're at Wonderland, but sadly we're at war with each other." The man sighed heavily.

"This is Wonderland? This is the same old Wonderland? Huh… It was much bigger the last time I've visit…" Hikari mumbled to herself, really low, even for Peter White to hear. She glanced up to the taller man. "At war? Really? Are you just bluffing or is it real? This land is peaceful as far as I can see…" Hikari narrowed her eyes, looking out to the green land. Gunshots could be heard from all the way towards the high tower. The brunette sweat dropped as Peter White just stayed at the position he was before. "Okay… I stand corrected… You guys are really at war… of what exactly?" she asked.

Peter White smiled and reached something out from his pocket. A small vial filled with red liquid. "First, you must drink this." He said, handing the vial to Hikari—who only stared at it confusedly. Peter White realized the puzzled look on the new foreigner's face. He chuckled. "Oh! That's right… the game wouldn't be fun if it was easy, correct?" He said or asked.

Hikari shrugged. He was right. "Yeah… I agree!" She grinned happily making Peter White blushed a little. A puzzled look replaced her grin as she scratched the back of her neck. "Uh… What game are we exactly playing? I hope it's a treasure hunt! I always love treasure hunting especially with Peter!" She clapped her hands together.

Peter White cleared his throat, blood rose up to his cheeks. "M-Me? You love me? Oh, my dear Hikari! I'm glad you already picked me!" He hugged the small brunette tightly.

Hikari's eye twitched, "Not you! I'm friends with a lot of Peter! I'm talking about Peter Pan! He's the greatest treasure hider ever! I've never even found that crown if it wasn't for the clue he gave me!" She placed her hands on her hips, grinning back at Peter White.

A disappointed frown was seen on his face. "Oh how so disappointing…" Peter White sighed as he shook his head. "I thought you're talking about me, my dear." He said.

Hikari sighed, shaking her head. "Dude… Stop calling me 'deer' will 'ya? I ain't an animal. I'm a human being." She pouted, crossing her arms.

Dear and Deer almost sounds the same… to her…

Peter White chuckled, "No, my dear Hikari. I think you've mistaken!" He embraced the brunette back into a tight hug. "You're surely are adorable, my little kitten." He chirped happily.

Hikari gave him her best WTH look as she placed a hand on his forehead. "Well… you don't seem to have a fever… So you must have eaten something wrong, Peter White!" She quickly concluded. "Don't worry. It happens to me all the time!" She grinned, messing his hair.

"Peter is just fine, my dear," Peter chuckled lightly as he handed Hikari the small blue vial. "But please, my dear, you have to drink this for the game to begin." He said.

Hikari shrugged and grabbed the vial from Peter. It seems suspicious to be given a vial with a suspicious liquid inside from a suspicious man, but she can't judge him by his looks. She did that once and it hurts other people's hearts. She accused a man for stealing because of his creepy appearance. Turns out, the man is actually an undercover sheriff, looking for the thief. The young keyblade wielder apologizes many times that day and at the end of the day, she got a sore throat for too much apologizing. Shaking off the memories, she popped the hearts glass shape cork off the vial and placed the tip of the vial on her lips. She was going to drink it. That is until…

"EEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPP~!"

A loud shriek of terror stopped her.

"What was that?" Hikari brought the vial back down from her lips as she glanced around the tower, looking for the source.

'_Damn Rat…'_ Peter cursed in his mind as he scowled. He was this close to bringing the new foreigner to the game. A fake smile was seen to replace the scowl look. "It's nothing, probably was just someone shrieking." He smiled, placing his arm around the brunette.

There was another shriek of terror coming from the same person.

Hikari shook her head as she closed the vial with the cork. "Nope! It's defiantly someone crying for help! Don't worry shrieking people! Super Hikari is here to safe you~!" She sang childishly with a goofy grin. She pushed the Prime Minister of Hearts away as she ran towards the door. "Good bye, Peter! See 'ya soon!" she yelled over her shoulder.

Peter scowled once more. He's going to _kill _that rat.

* * *

3=~x~X~x~=E

The keyblade wielder ran down the many stairs of the tower, her heart pumping hard against her chest with excitement. Finally, after a few months without an adventure, she was finally going to have one! A goofy grin made its way to her lips as she reached the bottom of the tower. She lost track of how many stories has she ran down. She actually lost count after twenty because she was almost out of breath at that floor. This tower was nothing compared to Castle Oblivion. It took her an hour to reach the very top of the castle. Finally, she reached the first floor with sweat streaming down her face.

"Who are you?!" A man bellowed after seeing a panting brunette on the door frame. Hikari glanced up to the man. He had long dark blue-purple-ish hair, tied in a low ponytail. His midnight blue eyes glaring dagger at Hikari as she continue to observe the man. One thing she can conclude about this man: he truly loves clock. Hikari shook her head. Again with judging by first appearance! "What are you doing here?!" he bellowed again, demanding answers.

"Whoops! Sorry there, man! I didn't mean to intrude your tower!" Hikari gave a sheepish grin as she tried to catch her breath. She stood up straight after a few seconds, the man still eyeing her carefully and wearily.

"Who are you?" The man asked again.

"Me?" Hikari pointed a finger at herself with a look. "Oh! I'm the mighty and awesome Keyblade Master! Nice to meet 'cha, stranger!" She grinned happily, her voice filled with smugness. Where else can she be smug without Riku scolding her not to be too smug? She walked a few steps closer to the man with her hand reach out. "So… What's your name dude?" she asked.

The man eyed her wearily again. "Julius… Julius Monrey." He introduced with a suspicious look. "And your name is?" he asked back.

"Oh! My name's—," Before Hikari could even finish her sentence, the same shrieking voice filled the air once more. This time, it was louder and terrified. The poor lady must have been really afraid of this something doing to her. The brunette's eyebrow furrowed down as she turned away from Julius. "Crap! I forgot all about the lady! Don't worry Ma'am! I'm coming to the rescue!" she ran towards the exit.

"See 'ya later July!" Hikari yelled loudly before sprinting off towards the direction of the 'lady'.

Julius raised an eyebrow at the strange girl. She has _eyes_. She has bright blue _eyes_. That must have mean either she's a new Role-Holder or that stupid rabbit brought another foreigner to Wonderland. The long haired man sighed deeply as he rubbed his temples. Why? Why of all places that rabbit has to bring a foreigner to _this_ tower?

* * *

3=~x~X~x~=E

"Don't worry, Ma'am! Help is here!" Hikari shouted loudly as she cupped her mouth. There was silence around her. There was no sight of any lady or men in need of help. She slumps her shoulder in disappointment. And she thought there was something interesting going on here. She shoved her hand into her pocket, taking out a vial. It was the vial Peter gave her. A loud sigh escape her lips and stared at the tower she previously was at. Maybe Julius or Peter can help her find that man and explain what game she's going to play if she drinks that liquid. A frustrated sigh escapes her lips as she summoned off her keyblade. "GAH! And I just think that I could use my keyblade!" She cried.

"Help me chu~!" The same shrieking voice shouted loudly. Oddly, it seems that the lady was coming towards Hikari. Quickly the brunette stood in a fighting stance, glaring at the bush. Her eyes widened in surprise as she found the lady. The lady isn't actually a lady. It was a mouse slash human slash boy. "Please help me chu~! That mean giant cat is going to eat me chu~!" he cried, hiding behind the brunette.

"Whoa there kid! Calm down! There's no cat around here!" Hikari stumbled back a little as the mouse-kid tugged on the back of her jacket.

"You're wrong chu~!" The mouse-kid cried as tears sprung out from his eyes—well… eye… since his right eye was covered with his bangs. He suddenly cringed. "Eeeeeeeeepppppp! He's near chu~!" He cried and ran off towards another direction.

Hikari spun around and fall to the ground, after the mouse-kid sprinted off, leaving her in the forest alone. She rubbed her head before raising an eyebrow at the mouse-kid. What's his problem? She stood up, brushing the dirt off her clothes. Confused blue eyes stared at the direction of where the mouse-kid had run off to. She scratched the back of her head.

"Well…. better ran after him before he gets into trouble…" Hikari mumbled to herself. After a few seconds of silence, a goofy smile appeared on her lips. "Hehehe… ADVENTURE TIME~!" She sang happily.

The keyblade wielder wandered around the forest looking for the mouse-kid. She even sang for the mouse-kid to come out from his hiding spot—not that she knows he was hiding or not, but he looks like a mouse and normal mouse likes to hide and stuff. If she has cheese, she would defiantly use it.

"Here mousy, mousy, mousy~ Come out, come out, where ever you are~" Hikari sang. She suddenly froze and face-palmed. Now she sounds like the cat whose chasing the poor little mouse-kid! "Look, Mousy… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have teased you like that! Would you come out? So that I can protect you from this so called 'cat'?" She asked aloud.

"Lo-Lorina? Is th-that you?" A feminine voice called out nervously.

'_Lolorina? Who's Lolorina?'_ Hikari asked to herself as she scratched the back of her head confusedly. "Uh… Hi?" She greeted with a sheepish grin.

"Lo-Lorina! Is th-that really you?" The chestnut haired girl with teary gray-ish blue eyes asked once more to Hikari. The girl suddenly pounced on Hikari, almost making her and the girl fall to the ground. Luckily, Hikari quickly balanced herself and the girl, preventing from falling. "Oh Lorina! It's so good to see you again! How've you been? Why did you cut your hair? And what happen to your face?" The girl showered the confused keyblade wielder with questions.

"Wha—I dunno about any Lolorina or any Lorina… I think you've got the wrong girl, lady…" Hikari scratched the back of her head and a small smile on her lips. She was trying to make the chestnut haired girl stop crying. "I'm not who you call Lolorina and Lorina, lady… Sorry…" she repeated.

The chestnut haired girl wiped her tears away as she sniffles. "O-Oh… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to hug you… I-I thought that y-you're my sister… I'm sorry…" Small hiccups could be heard.

Hikari's eyes softened. She wanted to hit herself for making such a sweet lady cry. _'Curse my impoliteness! Oh man… I feel really bad…' _She thought guiltily. A hand was placed on both the chestnut haired girl's shoulder, patting them gently to soothe her. "Uh… Um… I'm not good with comforting people when they're crying but… There, there? There's no need to cry? And no, no, it's okay actually… I apologize for making you cry, lady…" She said with a worried look.

"No, no… I'm the one who should apologize for hugging you…" The girl smiled warmly as the tears were now gone. "What's your name? My name's Alice Liddell." She introduced with a sweet smile.

"Ah! My name's Hikari, just Hikari!" Hikari gave a proud grin at Alice as she only giggles.

"Hey, brother," A voice said from behind Hikari, making her froze as Alice stared in shock.

"Yes, brother?" A new voice said, again, from behind Hikari.

"This Faceless just make Onee-chan cry!" The first voice said.

"Let's kill him~!" The two voices sang in unison.

A visible vein popped on Hikari's forehead. Did those two just call her a 'him'? Her hands curled into balls of fist as her shoulder trembles from anger boiling inside. Alice waved her hands in front of her, trying to calm the angry keyblade wielder down. Slowly, the brunette turned around with a killing aura. Her fist cracked as she faced the two kids.

"I. am. not. a. DUDE!" Hikari growled as she kicked the axes away from the little kids' hands. Taken by surprise the two little kids' eyes widened. They never expected a faceless… a faceless _girl_ to taken them down in just a matter of seconds. The two was more surprised when she hoisted the two up with ease. The blue one was over her shoulder and the red one was in her arms. "You little brats are really rude! Calling me a dude!" She rhymed.

"Hey! Let us go!" Both kids whined as they both struggled to break free.

"Hah! Not so tough without your axes, now are 'ya, little brats?" Hikari asked with a smirk across her face.

"No fair! Onee-chan~ Help us!" The two cried in unison.

Alice laughed nervously. "C-Calm down Hi-Hikari... I'm sure that the twins didn't mean to call you a guy…" She said. Hikari huffed and let out a heavy sigh before setting the twins down, but not before giving them a deep glare. The twins crossed their arms over their chests. A pout was seen on their faces. "See? The twins are not really bad." Alice smiled.

Hikari sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "I guess…" She placed a hand on her hip and glanced around. These kids are probably sad because she just kicked their battle axes away from their little hands. The two axes were found on a tree branch. With another annoyed sigh, the brunette jumped towards the branch, dangling as she grabbed the two battle axes. She jumped down and crouched down to the twins' eye level. They were refusing to make eye contact. "Here, you little brats… Be careful with these weapons… They're dangerous." The keyblade wielder warned, patting their heads.

"Thanks…" The twins said in unison, more like mumbled in unison. Hikari grinned and stood back up as Alice smiled warmly. "But~" the twins began, a glint of mischief in their eyes. "Take this Onee-chan~!" they both sang as they kicked Hikari in the shin, in unison.

"YE-OUCH! DARN YOU LITTLE BRATS!" Hikari balled up her fist as the twins ran up to Alice and hid behind her. "Alice? Would you please move so I could teach those two a lesson?" The brunette growled. Her blue eyes darkened all of a sudden.

"No~! Protect us, Onee-chan!" The two cried, gripping on Alice's dress.

"I'm gonna get you two!" Hikari yelled loudly as she tried to grab the twins. The struggling from the twins as her once more placed them in the same position from before was making a vial moved inside her pocket. The vial slipped off her jacket's pocket, reviling it was still full.

Alice's eyes widened in surprised. "H-Hikari? Is this yours?" She nervously asked as she showed Hikari the vial.

"Huh? Oh yeah," Hikari said as the twins stared at the small vial. "Thanks, Alice. I wouldn't have notice that it fallen off my pocket if you didn't mention it." She smiled and grabbed the vial using her teeth. "Twanks a blot, Awice." She tried her best to speak with half of the vial in her mouth.

"Y-You didn't drink it, did you? A sip?" Alice asked nervously.

"Nwah, I newa dwink it bwet." Hikari grinned. The twins suddenly escaped from her grasp and smiled sweetly at her. The brunette grabbed the vial away from her mouth and glared at the twins suspiciously. She shoved the bottle back into her jacket's pocket and crossed her arms as the twins kept on smiling so sweetly at her, too sweetly to be exact. "I was about to drink it, but there's this shrieking. So I ran away from this rabbit man called Peter White and met this other dude, I think his name is July something… Oh and then this mouse looking dude came and the he was scarred of something. I think he mentioned a giant cat or something and then I met you! And these brats too." She scowled at the twins.

Alice gave a sigh of relief as she placed a hand on her chest. "Thank goodness, for a second there, I thought you've drink it." She smiled sweetly.

Hikari blinked a few times, "What's wrong if I drink it?" She asked curiously.

"Well… you—," Alice's mouth was suddenly covered by the red twin as he had a smile on his face.

"You'll get superpowers Onee-chan~" The blue twin sang happily as he walked closer to the confused keyblade wielder. He reached his hand out and grabbed the vial from inside Hikari's pocket. The blue twin smiled mischievously as Alice kept on shaking her head with a shock look.

"Oh really?" Hikari asked, completely uninterested and not believing the bogus story the twins were telling her. "What kind of super powers?" She asked.

"Oh a lot, Onee-chan~!" The red twin grinned as he kept on covering Alice's mouth. "Like flying, super strength, healing powers, and night vision!" he chirped happily.

"Hmmm," Hikari hummed, tapping her chin. "Nah… I can fly with pixie dust, I can already easily lift you two up, I don't need healing powers, and I don't need night vision. It sucks." She commented dryly. "Anything else you two got to convinced me to drink this?" She asked with an amused look.

Alice finally got her mouth free from the red twin's hand. "Okay! How about we forget about this vial and have some tea instead?" She asked and the three shrugged. Hikari grabbed the vial back from the blue twin and shoved it into her pocket before glancing back to Alice. She had a bright smile on her face. "Blood will be surprised to meet you!" She clapped her hands together.

"'Surprise'? Huh… I hope he doesn't get a heart attack~" Hikari joked as the twins laughed.

"You're funny, new Onee-chan~!" The twins shouted in unison as they hugged Hikari around her waist.

"Heh! Who are you two anyway?" Hikari asked with a grin as she, the twins, and Alice walked towards a mansion.

"I'm Tweedle Dee!"

"I'm Tweedle Dum!"

"And we're the Bloody Twins~"

* * *

**A/N: That's the end of the chapter! I was over excited and write this chapter soooo long! :D Anyway, sorry for any grammar or spelling error!**

**Hikari has visited the Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, that's why she say that Wonderland used to be bigger than she remembers. You see, Kingdom Hearts is a game of crossovers between Disney Movies. But don't worry, this is the only chapter that has mentions of KH. I'll try not to add too much KH into this story ^^**

Keyblade(s): Are mysterious weapons that are used in a game called Kingdom Hearts. It's similar to swords. Despite the fact that most Keyblades possess no actual cutting edge. It's an effective weapons against Heartless, Nobodies, Unversed, and Dream Eaters. However the dowside to this weapon, the Heartless use the Keyblade as a homing beacon, and thus Keyblade wielders are at constant risk of Heartless attacks at any time. It's also use to 'lock' a world's keyhole, preventing the Heartless from attacking the world's heart. It can also unlock any lock. The Keyblade also chose its wielder.

Heartless: Are physical, living manifestations of the darkness within people's hearts. They 'stole' the light within the people's heart, making the people disappear soon after.

**Reviews are very appreciated, and please no flames!**

**R&R please!**


	2. Mission 2: Failed Attempts

**A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews, favs, and alerts guys~ you make me happy! Very happy! :D**

**Void of Nothingness**: XD Thank you so much!

**austriantatious**: Thank you so much! And the twins will try their best to make Hikari drink the Medicine of Hearts~!

**Thanks to **austriantatious** for adding this story to her community~! **

**Hikari © me**

**Mentions of KH characters or places © Square Enix**

**Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice © QuinRose**

* * *

3=~x~X~x~=E

Mission 2  
Failed Attempts

3=~x~X~x~=E

* * *

"Get off, you brats!" Hikari shouted loudly as she tried to shove the Bloody Twins away. They both have been hugging her by her waist for five minutes now. She doesn't like it when people get a little too 'huggy' on her. She could just shove the twins off her by force, but she did try that and that didn't work a single bit. The Bloody Twins were just too clingy! How did Alice survive with this two clinging on her every day? A sigh escape her lips. She finally gave up after her last try to shove the twins away. Her hand reached up to scratch the back of her head angrily. She _has_ to ask Alice later on how to control the twins. "Are you two always this…'huggy'?" The brunette sighed out, massaging her temples.

"Yup~! We always love hugging pretty onee-chans~!" The red twin, Dum, sang happily as he snuggled to the left side of Hikari's waist.

"Great…" Hikari said sarcastically as she let out a deep sigh. "Why don't you hug Alice instead? She's pretty." She smiled, patting the twins' head.

"I-I-I'm not pretty!" Alice's cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. The chestnut haired girl just met Hikari a few minutes ago and she's already complimenting her! Alice gripped on her apron of her dress as her cheeks were still red. In her world, people never complimented her on her looks. She was overshadowed by her older sister, Lorina and her younger sister, Edith.

Hikari sighed as she scratched the back of her neck, "You're right… You're _not_ pretty…" She suddenly said. Alice gripped on her dress tighter as she closed her eyes tightly. She felt tears whelming up from the corner of her eyes. She knew it. She knew it! She knew that Hikari was just as the same as everyone else in her world. "You're _very_ pretty, Alice~!" The tall brunette sang happily with a happy grin.

What?

Alice's eyes snapped wide open. What? What did she say?

"You're very pretty, Alice~! Just like a princess!" Hikari laughed and turn to face the twins, who stare up at her confusedly. "Isn't that right you, bratty Bloody Twins? Alice is the prettiest princess, right? Who agrees please raise their hand up!" She quickly raised her right hand up in the air.

"We agree~!" The twins sang in unison again as they both raised their right hands, but still keeping a firm grip on Hikari's waist with their left hands.

Another blush crept up to Alice's cheeks. "L-Let's just go to the Hatter's Mansion!" She quickly said, her legs shaking a little. Another foreigner… Another outsider… from her world… just complemented her. That was indeed surprising for the chestnut-haired Liddell. A smile was seen on her lips. She was happy, happier than ever to have a friend, a girl friend. Not that she's not happy spending time with Vivaldi, but Hikari was an outsider. The first one to ever take notice to her, Alice Liddell! They were going to be best friends indeed!

Hikari stared at Alice confusedly before shrugging her shoulders. "Get off, you Bratty Twins! Have you ever heard of personal space before?!" She went back to try and shove the twins away. The twins only flashed a sweet grin before snuggling to her waist again. A loud groan escaped her throat as she slump her shoulders down. Obviously, no. The twins never heard of personal space before. She tried her best to walk with the dang Bloody Twins clinging on her. "Would you two please move in the same pace as me? I don't want to fall to the ground!" The brunette wobbled slightly, but quickly regained her balance and glare at the twins.

"Sorry, New Onee-chan~!" Dum apologized.

'_Ugh… This is getting us no where… at all…' _Hikari thought bitterly as she sighed deeply. "Well… It can't be helped…" She said, making the twins look at her with confuse looks.

"Up you two go~!" This time, it was Hikari's turn to grin. She swung Dee over her shoulder and carried Dum in the loop of her left arm. The twins were like a sack, an empty sack of presents to be exact. She was used to carrying something heavy over her shoulders and was forced to do pull-ups every morning. It was painful and tiring at first, but after a while… it became a daily routine for her.

"Waaa~! Put us down, New Onee-chan~!" Dee cried in a singing tone.

"Nope! This way, we'll be able to get to the Mansion quicker!" Hikari grinned.

"Aren't we heavy, New Onee-chan?" Dum asked with his head cocked to the side.

Hikari looked down at the red twins. She shakes her head with a small smile. "Nah! You two are as light as feathers! Trust me! I can carry you two like this for hours!" She said.

"Oh! In that case," Dum began as he grinned mischievously. "The Hatter's Mansion is that way, New Onee-chan~!" Dee pointed his finger to the opposite direction.

"Really?" Hikari stopped on her tracks and turned around to the direction pointed by Dee.

"No!" Alice cried in panic as she ran towards Hikari. The chestnut-haired girl turned Hikari around to the right direction of the Hatter's Mansion. "The Bloody Twins were just lying, Hikari. The right way to the Mansion is this way. You can already see the big Mansion in front of us." She smiled kindly.

"Oh…" Hikari stared at the large Mansion. It was bigger and better than the Old Mansion! She turned to glare at Dum, who only smiled sweetly at her. A visible vein popped on her forehead as she dropped the twins to the ground without care. They both complained with a 'hey', but the brunette choose to ignore the Bloody Twins for the time being. She turned to Alice with a goofy grin. "Well? What are we waiting for? Let's head to the big and beautiful Mansion~!" She sang happily.

"Uh—wait!" Alice cried as she was being dragged by the excited keyblade wielder. She has never seen anyone this excited to see the Mafia before. Something suddenly made her remember the reason. She hasn't told Hikari about the Mafia thing yet! All she knew that she was going to meet Blood Dupre, who is the Mafia Boss. She wondered. How will Hikari react when she told her that the place they're visiting is the home of the dangerous Mafia?

"Yo~! Is anybody home? Hello~?" Hikari sang as she shakes the bar of the gate. "Huh… where is the freaking doorbell? Is has to be here somewhere…" She mumbled to herself as she searched high and low for the doorbell. A mansion as big like this, has to have a doorbell right?

"Hikari…" Alice laughed nervously. "The twins are the gatekeepers of this Mansion." She said with a nervous smile.

Hikari blinked at her a few times before pointing her finger to the Bloody Twins. "Them? Gatekeepers? Really? I never thought they hire two slackers as the Gatekeepers…" She scratched the back of her head as the twins responded with another 'hey' in unison. "Oh well… Probably low on budget…" She shrugged her shoulder.

Alice laughed. "Well, when I first came here… they tried to kill me when I first met them." She smiled.

"Kill you, really? You two Brats want to kill a pretty lady like Alice?! I'm ashamed of you two!" Hikari crossed her arms as she scolded the Tweedle twins.

"We didn't know she was a foreigner!" The twins argued with teary eyes. Hikari raised an eyebrow angrily at them as she crossed her arms over her chest. She can be intimidating… sometimes. "We were told to kill everyone who intrudes the mansion!" They shouted in unison.

"Oh yeah? Who told you that?" Hikari huffed. Who in the right mind would tell such commands to adorable little kids?!

"That would be me, young miss." A voice said from behind.

Quickly, by reflexes, Hikari swung her foot up to the man. The voice obviously belongs to a man, since it was deep. Her kick was blocked by a white gloved hand. They both stayed in defense and attack mode for a few seconds as Hikari observed the man carefully. The man has dark blue hair—almost to black. His midnight blue eyes gleam as they stare at the brunette. He had a black hat on with roses at the sides. He wore very fancy and also all white clothing with high white socks—at least that's what Hikari thinks. A smirk was seen on his lips as Hikari glared daggers at him for appearing so suddenly behind her. Again… personal space, people!

Another man with long curly blonde hair and brown bunny ears appeared from behind the brunette. A 'click' was heard from behind. A gun was pointed straight to her head. Hikari narrowed her eyes and only caught a glimpse of the man's hair and somewhat a worn out purple scarf swaying in the wind.

"Blood! Elliot!" Alice screamed as her skin losses its color, turning her pale. "P-Please stop! She's not an intruder! She's my friend!" She grabbed onto Blood's arm, trying to drag him away.

"You're a friend of Miss Alice?" Elliot question as his eyebrows were raised. He quickly pulled his gun away from Hikari's head back to its holsters. "I deeply apologize for pointing a gun at you, Miss!" He apologizes.

"Yeah, no problem, Man…" Hikari replied as she still kept her kicking pose with Blood. "Now, if your friend here would just let go of my foot… I'll be really grateful. I'm getting a cramp here!" She cried as a 'pop' was heard on her hip joint.

Blood chuckled before releasing Hikari's foot. The brunette cried silently as she sat down on the ground while massaging her hip. She never knew that staying in the same position for just thirty seconds would create a cramp in her joints. She has to remember that when encountering someone again. Never kick first! Always punch first! That's her new motto.

"Alice? Who's this?" Blood asked, placing his gloved hand on his chin.

"Oh! She's Hikari, the new foreigner." Alice smiled sweetly, patting Hikari's shoulder as she was still crying in pain.

"Yeah~! But New Onee-chan haven't drink the Medicine of Hearts yet~!" Dee sings happily as he waved his battle axe around.

"I see…" Blood nodded his head as he turned his head to see Hikari was still wailing in pain quietly while Alice was still comforting her. He kneeled down to the brunette's eye level, smiling apologetically at her. "I apologize for my rudeness, Miss Hikari. I didn't know you're friends with Alice." He offered a hand out to her.

Hikari took his offering hand as she wailed in pain once more. "Ugh… No problem dude… Sorry for almost kicking you in the face, Misssssssster." She smiled sheepishly at him. He raised an eyebrow at her before raising his hand for the twins to open the gate. A sigh of relief escape the brunette's lips. She almost slipped to call this man a 'Miss'. Good thing she extended the 's' longer. "So… What's your name?" She asked.

"My apologies again, Miss Hikari." Blood apologizes. "My name is Blood Dupre, owner of the Hatter's Mansion and to this estate." He introduces with a somewhat fake smile. Hikari notices the fake smile and decided to use the same fake smile, but truly, she was glaring at the man. The Hatter smirked before directing his hand to the blonde man. "This is Elliot March, he is my second in command and the March Hare." He said before directing his hands to the twins. "And of course, you've met the Bloody Twins." he finishes.

"Yeah… they're one heck of a couple of bratty bloody twins." Hikari said as she eyed the twins.

Alice laughed and hooked her arms around Hikari's right arm. "Well… How about we all have some tea? I'm sure you're pretty thirsty." She smiled and turned to the twins with a look. "And no, she'll not drink the Medicine of Hearts!" She hissed quietly.

"Boo~!" The twins huffed and pouted.

"That would be nice! I am thirsty from all that yelling with the twins…" Hikari grinned sheepishly as she turned to Blood and Elliot. "Hope you two don't mind me hanging around here." She said.

Elliot smiled as he approached the two girls. "No, certainly no! Come… I'll prepare some carrot cakes for our party." He smiled.

"Prrrrrrhhhh," Hikari hissed out like a horse. "I hate carrots…" She murmured as quietly as possible.

But Elliot seems to hear her.

"Oh! I hate carrots too!" Elliot shouted happily. Finally! Someone who hates carrots as much as he is! He quickly ran into the mansion to prepare the tea party outside. "I'll be right back! I'll bring as much as carrot cakes as I can carry!" He shouted to the others.

Hikari raised an eyebrow, "I thought he hated carrots… but why does he like carrot cakes? It contains… _carrots_." She hissed the word carrot like a dieses.

Alice giggled, "Yeah… he claims to hate carrots, and only eats them cooked into sweet recipes like carrot cake or sweet carrot related. He said that it's two different things." She smiled nervously as she took a seat beside Blood and Hikari sat across with the twins on each her side.

"I do hope you like Earl Gray." Blood said with a small smile as a maid came with a few teapots and a few teacups in a tray cart. She placed the teapots and the teacups on the table. She poured the tea into Blood's cup and Blood quickly took a sip from his cup.

"Who's Earl Gray? Is he here? Or is he a 'she'?" Hikari glanced around, looking for the man Blood mention.

Dee and Dum laughed. "New Onee-chan~! Earl Gray isn't a person. Earl Gray is a brand. You know… a tea brand." The both said a full sentence in unison.

"Ooooohhh," Hikari trailed off as the maid came to her. The maid poured the tea carefully to her cup. "Ah! Thank you…?" She trailed off, looking at the maid with wide eyes. The maid bowed and made her way back to the mansion. As soon as the maid was gone, Hikari turned to face Blood and Alice, her mouth hung open. "Did you—did you see that?! What happen to her eyes?! Did someone cast an evil spell on her?! Who was it?! Tell me! I'll get rid of him! Or her…" She trailed off again.

Blood chuckled as Alice only smiled. "You see, they are the Faceless. The faceless represent time, but minor amount like minutes or seconds. That's why they have no faces, because they are less significant than us Role Holders." He explained.

"Wait, wait, wait! Hold it!" Hikari slammed her hand to the table, making it shake a little. Alice cringe as Blood only stared at the brunette with amusement. As for the twins, they both stood up to hug her by her waist. "So… Long short story, the Faceless have no face and you Role Holders have faces?" she shortened the story.

"Well… you got it right…" Alice blinked a few times as she answers. "But I'm not a Role Holder. I'm the previous Foreigner." She smiled.

"Oh… Okay…" Hikari settled down on her seat as she pushed the twins off using one hand, since her other hand is holding the teacup. "You could've just said that you know… My brain is killing me with all of this knowledge!" She slammed her forehead to the table.

"Wait until you hear Julius' explanations!" Dee and Dum said in unison, grinning at the brunette.

"Oh great! More geniuses!" Hikari shouted sarcastically with her eyes closed. She sat back into a normal sitting position and tipped back on her chair, making it only standing on two of its feet.

"Ah—," Alice was silenced by Blood's hand covering her mouth. Hikari cracked open an eyelid and eyed Blood carefully as he kept on smiling creepily at her. The brunette raised an eyebrow before moving her teacup to her lips. Alice began to struggle in Bloo's grasp. Turns out, she was trying to tell Hikari not to drink the tea because the twins somehow stole the vial and pour the liquid into her tea without her knowing. Just as Hikari tipped the teacup to sip the tea, something happen again to prevent her to drink the Medicine of Hearts.

"I'm back~!" Elliot sang happily.

Alice sighed in relief as Blood coughed. The twins fell down to the ground as Hikari place the teacup back to the table as she saw Elliot running towards her with a tray full of cakes.

"Here you go! This is my personal favorite!" Elliot smiled as he placed a piece of cake in front of Hikari.

"Way the go Chicky Rabbit!" Dee and Dum yelled as they both raised their axes at the hare.

Elliot looked puzzled for a second. "What? What did I do? And I'm not a rabbit!" He complained.

Hikari stared at the March Hare and the Bloody Twins, both getting ready to fight. "Are they always like this?" She asked the two sitting across from her.

Alice nodded her head. "Yeah…"

"Oh…" Hikari nodded her head slowly. She reached her hand out to grab her teacup. Once more, Blood covered Alice's mouth before she could even warn the poor brunette. The brunette did drink all of the tea at once since it was a small portion, but sadly or more likely 'luckily' for Alice, the twins bumped into her back. Quickly, Hikari burst out the tea from her mouth. She began to cough a little and wiped her mouth. "Gah! Sorry there, Blood Droopy. Alice… I didn't mean to do that…" She apologizes, wiping her mouth with her gloved hand.

Blood's eye twitched as she called his last name 'Droopy' and not 'Dupre'. "Ah, that's alright." He said with a small smile. "It wasn't your fault anyway." He continued as he took a sip from his drink.

Alice laughed.

Hikari sighed before pouring her own tea. The lid of the teapot suddenly came off and it falls into her teacup, splashing hot tea to her clothes. "GAH! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot tea! Hot tea! My goodness that's hot! H-O-T! HOT!" She shrieked in horror, running around after she placed the teapot down. A few minutes passed by quickly as the brunette finally quiets down. She took a seat on her chair as she breathed heavily after from all that running. She turned to Blood, who had an amused look on his pretty little face. Just wait until she gets her fist on his nose… "BAH! How can you drink this tea when it's this hot? It's like you've boil it above lava or something hotter!" She glared.

"Ah, you need to blow it first." Blood make an example as he blow his tea a few times before sipping it quietly, like a gentleman. Hikari scoffed. Yeah, a _gentleman_ her bum… A gentleman would help when a lady's in trouble. Blood _Droopy_ is not a gentleman! He's a _torturing_-man! "See? That's how you properly drink tea." He smirked.

Hikari struck her tongue out. "Beh! Sadly, I left my manners at home." She said. Home… like she also has manners there. It was just an expression. She doesn't have a proper home. Always doing missions and all, she doesn't have time for 'home'. A frown was seen on her lips as she glanced at another direction, to where Elliot and the twins were still fighting.

"Hikari?" Alice called out and got a 'hmmm' from the brunette. "Do you miss your home?" She asked softly, knowing it was probably a sensitive topic.

"Huh? Oh…" Hikari tapped her chin and grinned happily. "To tell you the truth, no actually…" she replied truthfully.

Alice's and Blood's eyes widened. "B-But… What about your family and your friends?" Alice asked in confusion.

"Hmmm… I don't actually have a family… I only have my bro, Sora. As for my friends, yes I do miss them all… But I was sent out to go on an adventure around the wo—land by my friend." Hikari corrected herself before continuing her story. "An adventure for me usually last for six months to a year long. After all, home is where the heart is." She smiled, wiggling her finger.

"Hmmm," Blood hummed as he took a sip from his cup. "An 'adventure', huh? So you're like a traveler?" He asked.

"Yeah… Kind of… I guess if that's what you want to call it, then yes." Hikari shrugged her shoulders.

"I see." Blood nodded his head. "Tell me more about yourself, Miss Hikari." He said as Alice seemed to agree.

"Whoa there dude, sorry, I don't do flashback stories." Hikari made an 'X' with her arms. "I have a _very_ long and complicated story of my past life." She grabbed the teapot's lid from her cup and placed it back to where it belongs. She let out a heavy sigh before pouring the tea to her cup while keeping a distance with it. "Look… I really don't do flashbacks, not because I have had a hard life back then. No. It's not like _that_. My past life was _pretty_ good, but I'm too lazy to tell you. You see, I'm a lazy person." She proudly exclaimed.

Alice nervously laughed. "She's just like Nightmare." She smiled.

Hikari gave a sheepish grin before her hand tremble as she tried to pour her tea. "Gah! Stupid trembling hand!" She cursed to herself.

"Ah! Here let me help you with that," A hand was placed on the teapot—more likely on top of Hikari's hand, steadying it from shaking. Hikari looked up to the tall man before smiling. Elliot is such a nice man. The blonde smiled back as he helped Hikari pour the tear into her teacup, but this time, without the teapot's lid in her tea. "Now was that hard?" Elliot asked as he stood back to his full height.

"Yeeeeeesss! Tea without lid! Thanks Elliot! Now I can finally drink my tea!" Hikari gave a quick hug to Elliot before drinking her tea, but she quickly sticks her tongue out. "Hot! Hot! Hot! Gah! I forgot the tea's been boiled in lava!" She cried, fanning her tongue.

Alice blushed at the little scene. "Hi-Hikari do you e-even notice th-that Elliot is…" She trailed off.

"Helping me? Yeah I know." Hikari sticks her tongue back into her mouth.

"You're a pervert, Chicky Rabbit!" The Bloody Twins accused in unison. "That was supposed to be us helping New Onee-chan!" They both cried, hugging Hikari around her neck.

"Ack! Can't breathe~! I can see the light!" Hikari pretended to die, but the twins didn't buy any of her horrible acting. The two continued on hugging her protectively from the 'Chicky Rabbit'. "Geez guys… Why are you two always so… huggy?" she asked.

"We're only huggy when there's a pretty Onee-chan in front of us." Dee rubbed his cheek against Hikari's.

"Again with this?" Hikari sighed. "The pretty lady is in front of your eyes, Brats." She stared right into Alice's eyes, smiling a little.

Blood smirked. "Oh yes, the pretty lady is beside me." He lifted Alice's chin up so she was staring into Blood's eyes.

Alice blush a deep shade of red.

"Hey Alice… You okay? I can see that you're face is really red… Did you burn your tongue with your hot lava tea?" Hikari asked from across the table, her neck was still being hugged by the twins.

Blood glared at the short-haired brunette as Alice recovered. "N-No, I didn't burn my tongue." She smiled at Hikari, who in return flashed a quick smile before continuing to struggle under the twins' death hug. Alice sipped her tea carefully as she kept the blush on her cheeks. "Oh! How about we visit the Castle of Hearts next?" She suggested.

"But I thought you hate Peter White?" Blood asked, confused.

"I do, but I'm sure Vivaldi would love to meet her." Alice simple said and smiled at Blood with her teacup raised. "Besides, the faster we visit the Castle of Hearts the faster we can leave it and never visit again." She continued and took a sip from her cup. "What do you say Hikari?" She asked the brunette.

"Sure," Hikari struggled to speak as the twins hugged her tighter. She quickly rose up to her feet and carried the twins as they kept on hugging. "Gah! Seriously! Have you two ever heard of the word personal space? I don't like it when people get too huggy you know! I thought I told you that before!" She scolded.

"You know… They're just going to hug you more if you kept carrying them like that." Alice said as she smiled nervously.

"Ah, really? So, I should carry them upside down like this?" Hikari asked as quickly changed the position. She grabbed the twins by their ankle and lifted the Bloody Twins up.

"No! Not like that! That's not what I meant!" Alice quickly rose up from her seat.

Hikari gave a shrug before letting the twins down gently back to their feet.

Dee and Dum laughed loudly, "New Onee-chan is fun~! Let's play a game in our room!" They both grabbed her hands, dragging her into the mansion.

"Maybe later, you brats," Hikari replied and dug her heel into the ground. "I'm going with Alice to the Castle of Hearts." She said, pulling her hands back from the twins.

"New Onee-chan doesn't like us?" The twins asked as they sobbed, tears coming out from their eyes.

'_Gah! Guilt! Guilt has taken over! It's the magic of guilt!'_ Hikari cried out loudly in her thoughts. She crouched down to their eye level, placing her hands on each of their shoulders. "Geez guys… What kind of Gatekeeper cries? I thought Gatekeepers were supposed to be tough. Look, since guilt is obviously eating me alive… I'll come back and visit you little brats later okay? How does that sound?" She suggested as she pulled out her handkerchief.

"A-And Chicky Rabbit won't get to play with you?" Dee asked as he sobbed. Elliot clicked his tongue as he glared daggers at the twins. "You'll play with us only, right, New Onee-chan?" Dum asked.

Hikari let out a deep groan. "Fine… I'll play with you two…" She agreed.

"Yay!" The twins suddenly changed their mood. They both gave Hikari another hug before Dee shoved his hand into his pocket. "But you have to drink this, New Onee-chan~!" He sang happily.

Hikari grabbed the vial with a puzzled look. "This was in my pocket… How did you two get it?" She asked suspiciously.

"By magic~" They sang again.

Hikari glared at them before shoving the vial into her pocket. "C'mon Alice~! Let's go to the Castle of Hearts! I'm excited to see what the castle looks like! Does it look like a giant heart?! Oh! Oh! Does it look like a few giant hearts stacked together?!" She excitedly asked.

Alice giggled at Hikari's enthusiasm. "Well… it's big I can tell you that." She said, finishing her tea. "We'll be leaving now." She said to the Hatters.

"Come back soon, dear, Alice." Blood kissed the back of Alice's hand. The chestnut-haired girl blushed as Hikari made a disgusted look while sticking her tongue out. The Mafia boss flashed a quick glare to the keyblade wielder before smiling at her. "And of course, you should come back as well to finish our afternoon tea." He offered.

"Yeah and maybe next time, you'll get to taste the carrot cake~!" Elliot sang as he gave Hikari a hug.

"Hands off, Chicky Rabbit!" The twins argued. "New Onee-chan is spending time with us next time~!" They both sang, wrapping their arms around Hikari's legs.

A visible vein popped on her forehead.

"WHY IS THE MAFIA SO HUGGY?!"

* * *

3=~x~X~x=E

Alice laughed nervously as Hikari was in a sour mood after visiting the Hatter's Mansion. After the hug attack she got from the March Hare and the Bloody Twins, Hikari smacked them, hard, upside their heads with her fists. The only Mafia member she didn't hit was Blood because he wasn't huggy like Elliot and the twins. Although, Alice swore that she saw a Hikari raising her fist up at Blood's direction, but she could be wrong. After all, the twins were right in front of her, begging for mercy. Alice giggled. She never thought that having another outsider would be this fun and funny.

"Those darn Hatters better be ready for the next tea party!" Hikari slammed her fist to a nearby tree trunk. Alice laughed nervously, keeping her distance from the angry brunette. Hikari's brown eyebrows were knitted down as she glared at nothing with a killing aura around her. "I promise… one more hug from them in this day… they will be sent to Oblivion!" She screamed out a fake threat.

Hikari punched the tree trunk with all her might. "GAH!" She screamed as all the leaves fall on her, making her fall straight to the ground. Alice gasped before running to aid the brunette. The once angry brunette popped her head out of the pile of leaves. Her lips that was once a frown, curled up to a smile and soon she was bursting out a full-hearted laughter. "OH MAN~! The last time that happened is when I bumped into a tree after running away from a flamethrower! Hah! Never thought it will happen again~" She sighed happily with a goofy grin.

Alice stared at Hikari with wide eyes and she suddenly began to laugh. "You seriously have some mood swings, Hikari." She said

Hikari let out a big grin before standing up from the pile of leaves she has just buried her alive. "Everyone used to say that to me too!" She blew the orange colored leaf off the bridge of her nose. "Well, I had to control my anger issues because if I don't…something like smacking people upside their heads would happen…" She said, brushing the dirt and the leaves off her clothes.

Alice nodded her head as she also stood up, "By the way… I've been meaning to ask you something," She looked up to the taller girl in front of her, observing her expression. The brunette nodded her head, flashing Alice a curious smile. "What happen to your cheek anyway? Did Peter White hurt you?" She balled her fist at the name.

Hikari touched her own right cheek. "Uh, no, Peter didn't hurt me." She said remembering the event. "It was actually because of those dang—," the brunette thought for a second. A smile curled up to her lips. She can't let Alice know about the darn Heartless. The Alice she once knew was only a little girl and she's blonde with blue eyes. So this Alice mustn't be the Princess of Heart. "—bandits! Yeah bandits! They jumped at me at night, but luckily I beat them all up!" She grinned.

"B-Bandits?! What happened?! Did they hurt you anywhere else?" Alice began to inspect every inch of Hikari's body, trying to find any more injuries. She spotted a few scratches on her arm, even though it was covered by a black arm cover and a few belts on her arms. "Are you alright though?" She asked worriedly.

"Yeah, are you alright though?" A new voice asked from behind the brunette.

Quickly and again by reflexes, Hikari drew back her fist as far as she can and sung it to the man. The man blocked the punch easily by his black gloved hand. Hikari stared blankly at the man. This was the second that someone blocked her reflex attacks. It was annoying since she always gets to punch and kick a person when he or she sneaked up on her to kill her silently. Apparently, the man's smile threw up the image of him being a bad guy. He had a sweet smile on his face. He has light brown hair and red eyes. The clothes he was wearing was an all red and black, nothing else but that color. Well, he has a sword on his left hip. He probably worked as a Knight or something.

"Ace!" Alice shouted.

"Hi Alice~!" Ace sung happily as he release Hikari's fist to hug the chestnut haired foreigner. Hikari blinked a few times at the scene. She was confused about this brown haired male. He was clearly older than her, and yet, he still acts like a child… She like it! There was another childish friend to add to her list. Ace noticed that Hikari was staring at him. He turned to face Alice with a smile. "Hey Alice~ who's this girl?" He asked.

"Oh! She's Hikari." Alice introduced. "Hikari meet Ace, Ace meet Hikari."

"Hi Ace~!" Hikari grinned at the man as she saluted.

Ace blinked before responding. "Hi'ya Hikari!" He saluted back with a cheerful grin. "So~? Where are you two headed?" He asked.

"The Castle of Hearts," Alice answered with a sigh.

"What a convenient! I'm going to the Castle too!" Ace exclaimed, taking the two girls' hands. He dragged them both to the opposite direction they were heading. "I know the fastest way to get there~! It's over here! I just found it yesterday!" He said.

Hikari raised an eyebrow at him. "But isn't the castle at the other direction?" She asked confusedly.

"We're heading towards the wrong way, Ace!" Alice argued, trying to pull Ace towards the right direction. "I don't want to get lost and get chased off by a bear again!" She complained.

"Don't worry! I promise you two beautiful ladies that there's no bear this time." Ace encourage as he finally release the two girls' hands.

"So… Ace was it?" Hikari looked around the forest feeling weary about her surroundings. Ace responded with a hum. "You have a sword, so does that mean you're a knight or something?" She asked.

"Uh-Huh! I'm the Knight of Hearts, the best swordsmen in Wonderland!" Ace puffed his chest out proudly.

"Cool! I used to play with sword!" Hikari grinned happily.

"Really?! What was your first sword?" Ace asked excitedly, interested in this kind of conversation.

"A wooden sword… It sucks!" Hikari pouted as she crossed her arms over her chest. "What was yours?" She asked back.

"Heh! Mine was the kitchen knife!" Ace exclaimed, grinning at the surprised brunette.

"Your first sword is a kitchen knife?" Hikari asked in disbelief. Ace nodded sadly, pouting a little.

"Yeah I know… it sucks…" Ace sighed deeply with his shoulders slump down.

"Are you kidding?! My foster parents won't even let me hold the knife even if I was thirteen! You're so lucky Ace! All I have when I was four was my lame wooden sword… It was lame because I have to make it by breaking the wood, since my foster parents refused to let me near blades…" Hikari patted Ace's shoulder.

Alice nervously laughed. "You two are going to get along well." She smiled.

Ace plus Hikari equals not a very good combination.

Who knows what Ace might do to her when a group of Faceless surrounds them and decided to attack? He would probably make Hikari kill all those defenseless Faceless!

The thought made Alice shuddered or was it because the time changed?

"Huh? I thought it was just noon?" Hikari asked, puzzled as she looked up to the starry sky.

"Time changes differently here," Alice said as she appeared next to Hikari. "Randomly of course…" she added.

Hikari nodded her head. "So… What now?" She asked.

"We go camping~!" Ace chirped happily.

"We don't even have a—," Hikari turned around to face Ace, but was met with a fairly large tent. Her mouth was hung open, shocked by the sudden appearance of the tent. It literally came out of nowhere. "Since when did you get a tent? You didn't steal it from someone, now did you, Ace?" She asked, wiggling her finger at the Knight.

Ace shook his head, "Nope~! This is my tent! Now, come on in girls! It's freezing cold outside!" He went inside the tent first and then popped his head out to smile brightly at Alice and Hikari, who were standing in front of the entrance. "C'mon in! There's enough space for the three of us~!" He sang.

Hikari merely shrugged before stepping in the tent. Alice was the only one outside. The chestnut-haired foreigner knew that Ace has a change of personalities from time to time. He can be sweet and loyal, but sometimes he can be a completely different person. He can be violent, cruel, and most of all perverted. She shivered at the last description.

"Hey Alice~," Ace stink his head out from the tent again. Alice glanced down to the red eyed brunette. He had on a sly grin on his face and Alice didn't like it one bit. Hikari suddenly stink her head out as well, from beneath Ace. "C'mon Alice! It'll be fun! This is the first time I'm going camping with my new buddies~!" The brunette grinned.

Alice smiled and shook her head as she crouched down. Ace wouldn't do anything funny when there's Hikari around, right?

The single source of light was sitting in the middle of the tent as the three was eating quietly. Ace somehow brought bread along with him and he split it into three. The two foreigners took their piece of share from Ace and ate it quietly while Ace was simply eats with a bright smile on his lips.

Alice sighed softly, looks like she was right. Ace wasn't going to do something to her or Hikari. Her gray-blue eyes turned its gaze to Hikari who was finished with her dinner. She turned her gaze back to Ace who was still happily eating his bread. Ace was still in his same spot and his cheery self. He can't turn to dark Ace when there's another foreigner around. Alice sighed again not letting her guard down, if Ace's was still his old self she still have to keep her eyes on him.

"So… Hikari, right?" Ace suddenly began, making Hikari turn to him and Alice snapped out from her thoughts.

"Yup. That's my name don't wear it out!" Hikari grinned as she sat in a lotus position. "What 'cha wanna ask, Ace?" She asked.

The Knight of Hearts smiled. "Well~ I was listening to your story where the bandits came and almost—,"

"Attack her!" Alice cuts in as she clapped her hands together. Obviously, Ace was going to ask the r-word. She wasn't going to let him ask her about that. "The bandits jump to attack you right?" She smiled nervously.

Hikari nodded her head slowly, "Uh… yeah… That's right."

Ace smirked. "What did you do to them?" He asked.

"I killed them." Hikari bluntly said.

Alice's eyes widened, surprised and shock at the same time. "Y-You k-killed pe-people?" She stuttered with fear.

Hikari nodded, trying to find a reason. She said it like it was a normal thing for her to kill, but truthfully, those 'bandits' are no actually bandits. Those are actually creatures of the dark, lurking to eat the light in people's hearts. She has no choice to execute those little monsters for the sake of people's safety. She wanted to slap herself for telling Alice and Ace that she killed the 'bandits'. She should've said that she throw them in prison or beat them to a bloody pulp and then sent them to prison.

"Ah… it's not like that…" Hikari said and began to find a reason quickly because she can see the terrified look in Alice's eyes and the surprised look in Ace's eyes. Something in her mind clicked on, which was mostly rare. "It was because those bandits are terrorists who wanted to blow up the city. So I was put into direct orders from the mayor to execute them in sight? And luckily they jump at me in an alley…" She finished with a sheepish smile.

Alice seems to relax a little. "Thank goodness… I thought you're an assassin." She placed a hand to where her heart is and sighed heavily. "We don't need more people to spread bloodshed here at Wonderland." She smiled.

Hikari nodded her head, her sheepish smile still on her face. "Well… I guess so… To tell you the truth, I kind of dislike my job. I rather have fun instead~! You know… playing on swings and ride down the slides kind of fun?" She smiled.

Alice giggled. "I bet you'll love the Amusement Park! Gowland will love to have you around enjoying his rides." She clapped her hands together.

Hikari grinned in respond. "That sounds awesome! You coming with us, Ace? I'm sure with you… there will be twice the fun!" She offered.

Ace blinked. The new foreigner just asked him out. She, the new foreigner, just asked him out on a date! A goofy grin made its way up to his lips. He quickly hugged the small brunette. He pulled her closer so her face was squished to his chest. A smirk replaced his grin, making Alice cringe at the sudden change.

'_He wouldn't!'_ Alice screamed in her mind. "A-Ace!" she cried out.

"Gwah! Awe! Lwet gwo!" Hikari muffled as she pushed Ace away with her inner strength. Finally, the brunette was free from Ace's grasp. She pumped her fist up in victory. "Wew~ Finally! I can breathe again!" She smiled brightly.

"Ace!" Alice hissed out in a whisper to the Knight while Hikari was busy doing her little 'victory dance'. "What was that about!" She asked or more likely demanded.

Ace smirks and covered his mouth so Alice could hear. "I was simply pulling this leaf off of her hair," He said, showing Alice the orange colored leaf. "Jealous, dear, Alice?" He asked.

Alice blushed. "No! Why should I?! You were probably going to do something inappropriate to her!" She hissed after recovering from her blush.

"My, my, Alice," Ace chuckled lightly. "Have you changed? Thinking dirty thoughts about me and the new foreigner!" he teased.

Alice blushed again. "No you idiot! That's not what I was trying to say!" She coughed a little. "Hikari's younger than me so as her protector, don't do anything stupid! Get it?" She raised her fist up at Ace.

Ace only laughed quietly. "Ah… okay, okay," He raised his hands up in defeat. "How about we all go to sleep?" He suggested.

Hikari stopped her 'victory dance' and turn to Ace. "Sure~ we have a big day tomorrow~" She sang, taking off her piece of armor from her shoulder. The brunette proceeds to take off her belts, her chains on her hips, the red pouch, and her fingerless gloves off. She also placed the vial next to her pouch, for safe keeping. "Bed time~!" She tucked herself to the sleeping bag.

Alice couldn't help but smile. She took off her apron and went into the sleeping bag while eyeing Ace carefully. She watched as Ace took off his red trench coat and went into his sleeping bag too. Somehow, she was feeling uneasy.

"Hey, Hikari?" Alice whispered.

"Yeah?" Hikari responded, turning to face Alice.

"Aren't you… you know… feeling a bit awkward sleeping in the same tent with a boy?" Alice asked with a faint blush.

"Nope," Hikari grinned. "I've spent almost all of my life working with dudes. They train me to become a strong girl who could defend herself from any evil thing. So, if there's any boy bothering you, I'll personally punch 'em square in the face." She kissed her knuckles.

Alice giggled. "So… would you punch Peter White in the face if he ever gets too huggy on me?" She asked and Hikari nodded.

Unnoticed to the two girls, Ace was listening to the whole conversation. The Knight of Hearts never knew Peter would bring such an interesting foreigner to Wonderland. Hikari seemed like an ordinary girl from the outside, despite her none girly features. She's an interesting little foreigner. She was brave, interested in swords, and most of all, killing people. He never expected for a girl to almost punch him square in his face. He was used to pushing, shrieking, screaming, and gasping, but never expected a punch. The sounds of giggling stopped after a few minutes passed by, Ace turned to his other side, seeing both girls were asleep. His red eyes stared up to the Medicine of Hearts. Peter White didn't get a chance to make Hikari drink the Medicine of Hearts, yet.

He grabbed the vial, playing it between his fingers as he raised it up high. A smirk was seen on his lips.

"This is going to be interesting~"

3=~x~X~x~=E

* * *

**A/N: That's the end of chapter two~ Hope you guys enjoyed it~**

**If you guys have questions, ask away~! I'll be happy to answer your questions ^^**

**Special thanks to: Void of Nothingness and onepen for adding this story to their favs~!**

**Special thanks to: In The Forest, Void of Nothingness, and austriantatious for adding this story to their alerts~!**

**You guys are the best~!**

**Reviews are very appreciated, and please no flames!**

**R&R please! **


	3. Mission 3: a Knight with a Heart

**A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, favs, and alerts~!**

**I have to type this story first because I'm still inspired by J/C/HnKnA~! I'll post up the next chaps of my other stories later, 'kay?**

Forest-Animal: **Here's the next chapter~!**

Himitsu the secretive otaku: **Thank you so much~ I'm sure you'll be surprise for the next chap of TOaO ^^**

Rafanan: **Here's more ^^**

austriantatious: **Thanks ^^ and XD we're about to find out here ;)**

Abyss of Ice: **XD really? Oh and Thank you ^^ **

**Hikari © me**

**Mentions of KH character, places, etc © Square Enix**

**Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice © QuinRose**

* * *

3=~x~X~x~=E

Mission 3  
a Knight with a Heart

3=~x~X~x~=E

* * *

"Hikari~"

The brunette furrowed her eyebrows down as the sunlight streamed in through the tent. It was just too bright and early for her to wake up. Usually she skipped her training with Riku, but never missed a training section with Sora because they always train in the noon. The whispering trick never really worked for her, it just bugged her a little bit.

"Hikari~"

She grabbed her pillow and covered her ear while trying to ignore the whispering.

"Hikari~ wake up!"

Suddenly, her pillow was yanked away making her head hit the ground with a soft thud. Slowly, her eyelids fluttered open lazily. An irritated look replaced the once peaceful look that she had when she was sleeping. A blurry figure hovered above her. Her eyes narrowed at the figure. He was huge! It couldn't be Alice because she was right beside her, still asleep. So it could only be one person, Ace.

"Get off Ace… It's too freaking early for me." Hikari groaned and tried to go back to sleep again. Her eyes snapped wide open as she felt something wet on her cheek. "UGH! EW! ACE! Did you just _lick _me?! So un-cool, dude!" She shouted very loudly to the other brunette.

Ace chuckled. "I didn't do that." He said.

"Huh? But you're—my goodness! A baby bear!" Hikari shrieked as she crawled away from the wild animal.

"I tried to warn you~" Ace sang as he grinned at Hikari, who was still surprised.

Hikari flashed him a quick glare before backing away from the baby bear.

"Mmmm Hikari? What's wrong?" Alice sat up, rubbing the sleepiness away from her eyes. A small yawn escaped her lips as she stretched her arms up in the air. She wiped the tears away and her eyes quickly widened. The former foreigner shrieked in terror as she backed away to the corner of the tent, away from the baby bear. "W-Why is there a ba-baby bear in here?!" She pointed her finger at the baby bear.

"I don't know!" Hikari's eye twitched as the baby bear crawled closer to her. The brunette quickly placed on her 'manly' accessories and crawled away to Ace. "Why is there a bear inside your tent?!" She grabbed the collar of Ace's shirt.

Ace laughed. "I don't know too! When I woke up, I saw a bear right above you~" He gave a goofy grin.

"Well, we better hurry and get it out!" Alice panicked.

"Why?" Ace and Hikari asked in unison, looking over to the chestnut-haired girl.

"When there's a baby bear, there's always a momma bear." Alice gulped.

Hikari instantly paled. She remembered, whenever there's a baby animal there's always a mother nearby. Like that time when she found a baby tiger and there was the mother right behind her, roaring angrily at her. Or like the time she was helping a baby eagle return to its nest, the mother came and chased her around. The brunette shuddered at the memories of wild animals chasing her. She wasn't good with wild animals, but yet she was good with smaller animals, except for cats.

"D-Do you have any more food with you, Ace?" Alice asked.

Ace nodded happily. "Of course! Tada! Bread!" He raised the bread up in the air.

Hikari gave him a blank look. "Seriously, we're luring a bear out using _bread_? How's that gonna lure the bear out? Bears love fish!" She asked the Knight and he simply shrugged his shoulders. The bear suddenly was placing his or her paws on Ace's chest, making Hikari crawled away while the goofy Knight laughs. The baby bear began to sniff of the bread and tried to eat it. Ace kept on laughing as he kept the bread out of the baby bear's range. "Oh, for the love of pancakes! Give me that!" Hikari snatched the bread away from Ace.

"Here, bear, bear, bear… Come and get the delicious bread~!" Hikari grinned nervously as she lured the small baby bear with a piece of bread. The baby bear quickly turned away from Ace and crawled over towards the entrance of the tent. With a nervous smile and tone, Hikari was finally out with the baby bear following her. She quickly stood up. "You want this? You want this? Go get it!" She threw the bread as far as she can.

The baby bear quickly chased the flying bread.

A loud sigh of relief escaped Hikari's mouth as she finally got the baby bear out.

"Way the go, Hikari!" Ace wrapped his arms around the brunette's neck, pulling her into a headlock. The Knight balled his fist and gave a super noogie, making the brunette in his arms yelled out for him to stop.

"OUCH! Hey! Stop that! You're giving me a bad hair day!" Hikari cried loudly, trying to free herself from Ace's strong headlock.

Alice laughed. "Cut it out, Ace." She said and Ace pouted. "We need to get to the Castle and this time, I'm leading the way." She smiled.

_**Roooooaaaar **_

Alice paled as Ace and Hikari turned their heads towards the bushes. Out come from the bushes, a mother bear appeared. It didn't look very happy as the sharp claws were out and she was roaring angrily at the three humans.

Hikari paled and grabbed each of Ace's and Alice's hands. She dragged the two away from the mother bear as she screamed:

"MOMMA BEAR IS ATTACKING!"

* * *

3=~x~X~x=E

"Gah… I think we lost her…" Alice panted out. They had been running away from the mother bear for the past fifteen minutes and finally, they lost the angry bear. Hikari was in the same situation as Alice, panting and gasping for air, while Ace… well, he didn't work up any sweat. Instead, the Knight was smiling at the two girls with a goofy kind of smile. Alice let out a deep breath before glancing around to her surroundings. "Well… At least we came to the right place." She smiled.

"Wha—wow…" Hikari stared in confused at Alice before glancing up to the huge castle in front of her. Her blue eyes stared in awe at the pink castle with heart flags and heart shaped windows. Everything there was heart-shaped! Either they were colored pink, black, or white, it was all very beautiful. The guards were also wearing a black, red, and white uniform with hearts! It was cool seeing the cards were actually humans and not the skinny-walking-talking cards. "This is soooo cool~! It's much bigger than I would've expected it would be! Oh look! A heart-shaped fountain! Does it have heart-shape fishes in it?!" She excitedly skipped towards the fountain.

Alice giggled. "No, sadly no. The fish isn't heart-shaped here." She said as her reflection appeared next to Hikari's as the brunette kept on staring into the water looking for fishes. "Vivaldi doesn't like fishes that much…" She nervously smiled.

'_Vivaldi? The queen of Hearts' name is Vivaldi… huh… I hope she's prettier than the last one!'_ Hikari thought as a goofy grin made its way to her face. She grabbed Alice's hand and dragged her back to main double doors where Ace was waiting with a smile. "C'mon, Alice! I wanna meet the queen! I bet she's pretty!" The keyblade wielder grinned.

Alice shook her head at Hikari's enthusiasms. The brunette acts like a three year old when going into a candy store! The chestnut-haired girl giggled with a happy smile plastered on her lips. Vivaldi would love having Hikari around. The cheerful and adorable brunette would defiantly be Vivaldi's new dress-up doll. She remembers perfectly that Vivaldi loves to dress her up every time she came for a visit at the Castle of Hearts. She just hoped that Hikari doesn't mind getting dressed-up.

"Off with her head!" Alice heard Vivaldi shouted to a poor maid. The chestnut-haired girl paled as she froze in her tracks. Hikari also seemed to freeze when she heard the sentence came out of the Queen of Heart's lips. Ace on the other hand stared at the poor maid being dragged away by the Faceless guards.

"O-Oh please, your highness! I beg for your forgiveness!" The maid begged helplessly as she trembled in fear. She would cry if she has eyes.

"I said off with her head!" The Queen of Hearts, Vivaldi, ordered again narrowing her scepter to the poor maid.

Alice gulped._ 'That poor maid…'_ She thought, a sudden pang in her heart, seeing that the maid was going to lose her head. She leaned a little to Hikari, covering her mouth so she could whisper something into Hikari's ears. Alice saw the shock look on the brunette face as she saw the maid was being dragged away. "That's the queen… she likes to behead her servants for the slightest mistake they make." She whispered as quietly as she can.

'_Same old queen…'_ Hikari said in her mind before running off towards the maid, who was still begging for forgiveness to the Queen. "STOP!" She screamed to the top of her lungs.

Alice stared in shock as Hikari was now standing in front of the poor maid and the two guards. The expression on her face was unreadable. The straight, yet determined look on her eyes stared right into Vivaldi's cold purple eyes. Both girls' expressions were unreadable. Hikari's expression could tell that she would attack Vivaldi any time or save the maid for the punishment of beheading. Vivaldi's expression could be that she wanted Hikari's head cut clean off her shoulder or jug hug the brunette tightly. Alice gulped in fear.

Vivaldi stared at the brunette standing in front of her reckless maid. Who dares disturb her from beheading people?! The Queen of Hearts rested her chin on her knuckle, staring into the brunette down bellow with interest. Never has anyone dared to interrupt her from beheading people. Her cold purple eyes narrowed to the Prime Minister standing beside her. Peter White seemed to know this female with eyes.

"White… Who's the girl?" Vivaldi asked with a calm tone, her eyes closed.

Peter turned to the Queen with a small smile. "She's my dear sweetheart, Hikari! Oh my dear Hikari is here with my dear ex Alice!" He cried happily.

"I see…" Vivaldi sighed before turning her attention back to the girl named Hikari. She observed the 'girl' bellow her. The 'girl' has short brown hair with bright blue eyes. She wore such un-lady like clothes. Vivaldi would have mistaken her for a boy if Peter hasn't told her that Hikari is a she. A smirk appeared on her lips. What would this little foreigner do to save her useless and reckless maid?

"Your majesty!" Hikari shouted, gaining attention from everyone in that chamber. The brunette quickly bowed down to one knee and she stared down to her metal shoes. "I ask for you to release this lady from being 'beheaded'. If you're not letting her off, then I will willingly replace her for any punishment she is sentenced to." She shouted and everyone stayed quiet to stare at the brunette. She lifted her head up to wink at the queen. "But if your punishment for me is also beheading, I would put up a fight first." She grinned.

Thank the lessons Riku gave her when speaking to any royalty.

The Faceless maid and the Faceless guards stared in shock. They never expected someone would replace them for a beheading punishment.

"Pl-Please… you shouldn't involve yourself into my problems, Miss." The Faceless maid whispered.

Hikari grinned at her. "Don't you worry about a single thing! I'll protect you! I promise," She gave another wink before turning to the Queen, who had on a smirk on her lips. The brunette quickly stood up to her full height. She could always put up one heck of a fight if the Queen ordered for her head to be cut clean off her shoulders.

Alice quickly ran to Hikari's side. "H-Hikari! Stop! You might get beheaded!" She whispered, trying to drag the brunette away.

"Pffft! Don't worry, Alice. I'll be fine." Hikari whispered, turning to Alice for a second before turning back to the smirking Queen. She cracked her knuckles before standing to a fighting stance. "What's your answer, Queen?" She asked or more likely shouted.

Vivaldi suddenly burst out laughing, making Alice and Hikari stared up at her with confused looks. "My, my, you're very adorable when you're fighting for my servants' freedom! We like you, brave foreigner. You may call us Vivaldi." She said while walking down the flight of stairs. "And you, you're excused from us." She said to the maid.

"Oh, my dear Hikari and my dear ex Alice! I'm so glad you've return!" Peter yelled as he embraced both girls into a big bear hug.

Since when did he get down?

"Gah!" Alice cried as he tried to shove the bunny-man's face away. "Get away from me, you pervert! And since when am I your ex?! I never liked you!" She yelled.

Peter smiled brightly before feeling a throbbing pain from the back of his head. "My dear, Hikari! Why did you hit the man you love?" He whines as he turned to face the brunette in his other arm. "Are you jealous that I'm showing more affection to dear ex Alice than you? You shall worry not my dear! I love you as well!" He tightly hugged the brunette in his arms.

"Dude… I don't understand a word what you're talking about." Hikari sighed, pushing Peter away. "I just hit you because I promised Alice that I would hit you whenever you're a bit too 'huggy' to her." She gave a shrug. The brunette turned to her right and saw Vivaldi standing in front of her.

Hikari gave the queen an awe look. "Wow… You're pretty~!" she grinned.

"My, my! You are very adorable from up close! We like you!" Vivaldi pulled Hikari into a hug, suffocating the poor brunette. The keyblade wielder gave a heavy sigh. Vivaldi is such a beautiful woman. Her purple-ish black hair was put into six large curls and her eyes matches her hair color, deep violent. She has a beauty mark on her left side of her chin. She wore a skirted gown mainly colored red and accented by a black corset and black bows, gold heart accessories, and she also wore a giant heart collar to frame her head and a matching crown and scepter in hand. "Come! We must have tea!" She smiled as she pulled apart from the hug.

Vivaldi is defiantly nicer and prettier than the last Queen of Hearts.

"Uh… Sure, my name's Hikari by the way." Hikari replied and the Queen smiled at her. The confused keyblade wielder turned to Alice with a look. "Does Queen Vivaldi like to change her mood?" She quietly asked.

Alice nodded with a nervously laugh, "Yeah… You'll get used to it." She patted the brunette's shoulder.

"Oh…" Hikari responded and turn to Ace, who was still standing at the place he was before. "Yo! Ace! C'mon and join us! Hurry up before you get left behind! I can't find you if you're lost here!" She waved her hand to the dazed Knight.

Ace blinked before grinning. "Coming~!" He sang happily.

* * *

3=~x~X~x~=E

Hikari stared at her cup of tea, remembering the last time she drank tea with the Hatters. She took a sip from her cup and it was way less hot than the Hatters'. Her blue eyes observed the people sitting around her. Vivaldi was drinking her tea with a calm look. Alice kept on glaring daggers at Peter and on the other hand, Peter was smiling happily at the brunette's direction. Ace was eating sweets with a sweet smile on his face. The keyblade wielder kept placing her teacup on her lips as it was already empty. She was too observant that she didn't even realize.

"More tea, Miss?" A Faceless maid asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah…" Hikari replied as she smiled at the maid. The maid filled back her teacup and bowed. The Faceless maid went back to her spot, standing with the other Faceless maids and Faceless guards. A sigh escape Hikari's lips as she ate a heart-shaped cookie. She wished that she can do something to make the Faceless have eyes… An idea popped into her mind. She grabbed something from her pouch and grinned.

"Pssssttt!" Hikari whispered to the guard standing behind her. The Guard lifted his head up and looked around, looking for the Faceless who was calling for him. He stared at the brunette in front of his and pointed a finger at himself. "Yeah, you, come over here for a sec." She whispered and the guard nodded.

"What are you doing, dear Hikari?" Vivaldi asked.

Hikari stood up from her chair, leaning closer to the guard who has a number five printed on his clothes. "Hehehehe~ giving him eyes of course! Hold still okay?" She chirped happily. She never even noticed the dark looks Peter and Ace was giving to the guard. After a few seconds later, Hikari leaned back. "Tada~ you have eyes now! See?" She gave the guard a silver spoon.

The Faceless guard blush a little as he has 'eyes' now. It wasn't real eyes. It was drawn on where his 'eyes' should be if he's a Role-Holder. The number five guard observed his reflection and chuckled a little. Even though his eyes were drawn by the foreigner, he still felt like he has eyes.

"So~? Do you like it? You have eyes now! I learn to draw from my friend, but I'm not as good as her though…" Hikari grinned sheepishly as she shoved the black marker into her pouch again.

"Hikari!" Alice whispered.

"What?" Hikari whispered back and froze. She just noticed that it was rude to draw on people's face without their permission. "Oh my freaking waffles! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to offend you! Here, let me clean it up." She quickly grabbed her handkerchief.

"No! No… It's alright, Miss…" The number five guard smiled as he scratched the back of his head. "I kind of like it." he said truthfully.

Hikari tilted her head before grinning happily. "I'm glad you like it! It's feels great that someone does appreciate my drawings." She puffed her chest out proudly.

Peter gave one last dark look to the guard. He was so tempted to shoot him dead now, but he was sure Alice and Hikari would hate him if he killed number five. A loud sigh escape his lips. At least, the guard was back in his place now. He smiled at Hikari who began to drink her tea again, feeling happy. The Prime Minister was delighted to see the brunette was now happier.

"So, Hikari, tell us more why you're dressed so… un-lady like." Vivaldi placed her teacup down.

Alice gulped. _'Please don't say you don't like cute things. Please don't say you don't like cute things. Please don't say you don't like cute things!_' She chanted in her mind, hoping Hikari answer something differently.

Hikari cleared her throat. "Uh… Well… I don't find wearing skirts and dresses quite fitting from where I came…" She answered, scratching the back of her head.

"Oh? And why's that?" Vivaldi asked back.

"Hmmm," Hikari hummed. "I think that using skirts and dresses would get in the way while training or fighting. You see… I somehow always ended up fighting a group of rebels every day. They fight fiercely, not caring if I'm a girl or not, so sometimes I ruined my clothes with dirt, mud, dust, blood, and some holes at the end of every day." She placed her elbows on her table.

Peter's pocket watch turned into a gun, "Who dares to hurt my lovely kitten?! Who were they?" He asked darkly.

Alice stiffened her shoulders as Ace's look was also getting dark. "E-Easy there… Hikari here have had a lot of experience and I believe that she already put those criminals in prison, right Hikari?" she asked with a nervously smile.

Hikari nodded her head slowly. "Yeah… already taken care of." She gave a thumb up.

Ace smiled, "Wow! We should train together sometimes~!" He suggested, patting the hilt of his sword.

Hikari nodded her head eagerly. "Sure thing, Ace! I would love to test out my skills with you! When?" She asked.

"Absolutely not! I would not leave you alone with this idiot!" Peter cried, pointing his gun at Ace's head. Ace smiled warmly at Peter as he took another bite from his cookie.

Alice nervously laughed. "So, Hikari…? What do you think of Wonderland so far?" She asked.

"Yes, we are also very curious." Vivaldi added.

Hikari smiled. "Well… It's wonderful! I never felt so relaxed in my life! It's always training, fighting, and working from where I came from… I always skipped every one of those when I get the chance. I didn't fight anyone for two days! It's a whole new record!" She slapped her knee while laughing. She snapped her fingers, almost forgetting about the vial. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot about something!" she reached into her pocket.

"Forget what, my dear Hikari?" Peter asked cheerfully. He watched as Hikari pulled out a vial, the Medicine of the Heart to be exact. He was surprised to find it was still full. Not a single drop seemed to be missing from the bottle. "Why haven't you drunk the Medicine of Hearts, my kitten?" He asked in a surprised tone.

"Well… Dee and Dum continue to ask me to drink it, changing every super power I will have if I drink this 'medicine'." Hikari tapped her chin, looking up to the sky, remembering every super power the Bloody Twins told her. "But now I'm beginning to think this is poison…" She placed the vial on the table before crossing her arms.

"Why would I poison my little kitten?" Peter asked, still surprised. He rushed to Hikari's side, hugging her from behind. The brunette yelped as she was being hugged by the neck… once more. She placed on a sour look before balling up her fist. "I would never do that to my precious foreigner! I shall help you drink it, my dear!" he shouted with a happy smile.

"Hands off, you pervert!" Alice shouted, as she punched Peter off of Hikari. The brunette only whistled at how strong Alice's punch was. She gave Alice a huge grin before high-fiving her.

Vivaldi chuckled. "Hikari, we would like to know where you will be staying."

"Huh… I haven't decided yet… I still haven't visited the Amusement Park and the place where that July guy lives, yet…" Hikari hummed and flashed Vivaldi one of her best smiles.

"Julius, his name is Julius, Hikari." Alice corrected, trying not to laugh.

"Oh, so does that mean you already visited the Circus?" Vivaldi asked as she sipped her tea.

"Cir…cus? There's a Circus?" Hikari asked with a puzzled look.

Alice shook her head. "We were going to visit the Circus last, since it's the farthest here in the Country of Hearts." She said, turning to Hikari who only nodded as a reply. "We're going to the Amusement Park next." Alice bowed her head as she smiled.

"Would you like to come with us, Queen Vivaldi?" Hikari asked as she stood up, trying to make the Queen feel better.

"We would love to come with you, but maybe next time." Vivaldi said with a sad smiled. A sigh escape Vivaldi's lips. "Leaving so soon? Oh well… Thank you for joining for our morning tea." She gave a sad smile.

"No! Please stay my dear ex Alice and my kitten Hikari!" Peter cried as he threw himself into Alice, who moved out of his way. The Prime Minister of Hearts falls face first to the ground, but he didn't give up just yet. He gave Alice and Hikari a big bear hug and he received another punch from Alice. "Why are you so cruel, my dear ex?" He asked, sniffling.

"I wouldn't be so cruel if you stop being a pervert!" Alice shouted, placing her hands on her hips.

Ace flashed the two girls a smile.

"You're not coming with us, Ace? I thought you wanna come…" Hikari asked with a slight confused look.

"I want to~!" Ace whined. "But I have some work to do…" He sighed.

"Oh… maybe next time! You too Peter!" Hikari waved her hand goodbye.

Vivaldi waved her hand goodbye. "Come back soon. We love having you two around." She said with another sad smile on her face.

Hikari looked down to the ground, frowning. She looked up to the Queen with a grin. "Don't worry! I'll come back and visit you soon, Queen Vivaldi! You're one of my role-model now~!" She exclaimed and quickly covered her mouth.

The Queen of Hearts laughed full-heartedly.

"Whoops… Didn't mean for that to slip… Sorry." Hikari apologize with a sheepish grin. "Keep that laugh, Queen Vivaldi! I hate it when someone frowns—Hey! Wait for me Alice!" She cried as she ran to catch up with Alice.

Vivaldi chuckled. "We like having this one too."

* * *

3=~x~X~x~=E

"Oh my freaking pancakes and waffles! This Amusement Park is HUGE!" Hikari screamed loudly.

Alice giggled. "What is it with you and pancakes and waffles?" She asked.

"I don't know… I guess they taste good." Hikari grinned as she walked towards the entrance. She stared in awe as at the Amusement Park. The brunette never visited a real Amusement Park before. The Amusement Park at Prankster Paradise almost killed her and she never wanted to return to the Nightmare Carnival ever again. But the atmosphere here was different. It was bright and cheery. There were a lot of bubbles flying around and there were also balloons! "Man! This place is so… cheerful and—and bright! I love it!" She cheered happily.

"I'm glad you like it!" A cheerful voice replied from behind.

This time, Hikari didn't punch or kick the man. From the tone of his voice, she guessed that he's a nice guy and she can't actually hit a man at a bright and cheerful place. That would ruin the bright atmosphere! Hikari turned around and was met with a tall guy grinning down at her. He has his hair in some form of braid and is a reddish brown color. He has bright blue eyes under his glasses. A light stubble beard gave him the feature of a nice man. He wore brown pants, a white work-shirt with a yellow vest and a jacket over it. His jacket has light-blue diamond patters. He also wears a couple of belts with musical notes.

"Hello! I'm Gowland, the owner of this Amusement Park!" Gowland introduces with a wide smile.

"Hi Gowland! My name's Hikari! The 'new' foreigner as Alice says." Hikari shook his hand excitedly. "And might I say, Gowland… You did a wonderful job with this Amusement Park! I can't wait to go on the rides~!" She laughed happily.

Gowland laughed, "I'm glad you think that my Amusement Park is wonderful~!" He smiled.

"Oh yeah! Where's the ticket booth?" Hikari asked, as she glanced around, looking for the ticketing booth. "I wanna go inside quickly to try on the rides! Isn't that right, Alice?" She asked.

"Oh no! A foreigner who likes my work isn't going to buy any tickets in my Amusement Park!" Gowland argued as he grabbed Hikari's wrist. He placed something in her palms. The brunette looked at the item Gowland just gave her. It was a ticket, a Platinum ticket card.

"Wha—no! I can't accept this! I'll pay for it. How much?" Hikari asked as she pulled out her wallet.

"No, I insist that you have this." Gowland said while smiling.

"No, I insist that I pay you." Hikari said, smiling.

"I insist," Gowland began.

"I insist," Hikari also began, a visible vein was seen on her forehead.

"I insist." Gowland started again, shoving Hikari's wallet away.

"I insist!"

"I insist!"

"I insist!"

Alice sweat dropped at the 'I insist' argument between Gowland and Hikari. The two kept on going with 'I insist' for awhile now and neither of them was going to stop anytime soon. A sigh escaped her lips as a vein popped on her forehead. She was getting tired of the yelling. She came in between the Duke and the keyblade wielder. The two stared at the chestnut-haired girl confusedly.

"Alright! Enough!" Alice shouted as she glared at both Gowland and Hikari. "You can repay Gowland for the life-time pass by listening to his music okay?" She suggested. _'I'm so sorry Hikari…'_ she apologized in her mind.

"That's a splendid idea, Alice!" Gowland cheered happily.

Hikari nodded, "I guess that could work…" She mumbled. "Thanks Gowland." She grinned at the man.

The two foreigners and the Park owner entered the Amusement Park. Gowland gave a private tour around his Amusement Park. He was delighted and at the same time amused that someone was so eager to go on his rides. The Duke happily escorted Hikari to one of the highest roller coaster in his Amusement Park while Alice decided to step out of the challenge. Gowland was also nice enough to ride with Hikari, testing out how 'fun' his ride really is. The two let out excited screams as they rode the ride. Alice simple laughed as she sat at a bench watching the roller coaster moved on the tracks.

"WOW! That was FUN! Let's go again!" Hikari tugged on Gowland's sleeves, urging him to go again.

Gowland laughed before patting Hikari's head. "Maybe next time, there's still a lot of rides here you need to try!" He cheerfully said.

"Really?! Well then let's go!" Hikari grabbed Gowland's hand dragging him towards Alice, who was waiting for them both to return back. "Alice! Alice! Alice! That was so much fun! Let's go on another one! I wanna ride the others! C'mon!" She exclaimed happily.

Alice giggled. "I've never seen you this excited and happy before." She commented before standing up.

"Well—," Hikari suddenly sneezed.

"Bless you," Alice said with a small smile.

"Thank—_chi_—you," Hikari scrunched her nose as she sneezed again, covering her nose and mouth with her handkerchief. She continues to sneeze every second, making Gowland and Alice turn to her with worried looks. "Don't—chi—worry—chi—about me! I'm—chi—fine!" She sneezed again.

"Are you allergic to something?" Gowland asked worriedly.

"Yeah—chi!" Hikari sneezed again.

"HELP ME CHU~!" A familiar mouse-kid came into view, throwing himself to Hikari. They both fall to the ground with a loud thud.

"Hey! You're the—chi—mouse I met—chi—at the forest!" Hikari exclaimed and every time she sneezes, she threw her face away from the mouse-kid's face.

"Hikari… are you perhaps… allergic to mice?" Alice asked as Hikari began to sneeze again.

"Y-You're allergic to me chu?" The mouse-kid asked with watery eyes—well, eye because his other eyes was still covered by his bangs.

"N-No! I'm not—chi—allergic to mice—chi!" Hikari replied and pushed the mouse-kid away and helping him up, but she threw her face away again as she began to sneeze uncomfortably. "I-I'm al-alergic to-to—chi!" She groaned.

"Hah! Looks like the new foreigner is allergic to you, Pierce," A new voice said from behind Hikari. A soft thing brushed against her cheek. It was pink with purple stripes. It looked like a big bushy boa. Hikari glanced back, but not before sneezing. It was a guy with punk-ish style. His hair was reddish purple and his eyes were like a cat, yellow. He wore a black top that revile his stomach, black skirt-like pants over his knee high pants, he has a single arm cover on his left arm and a fingerless glove on his right hand, a pet collar around his neck with chains, uneven striped sock, and white sneakers. He also has cat ears and a cat's tail. He also have a lot of piercings on his body. He almost looked like Lea or Axel for some reason… maybe it was his hair color that's almost identical to her friend. "My name's Boris Airay… What's your name?" He asked with a cynical smile.

Hikari stared blankly at the cat. "LEA! Is that really you?!" The brunette embraced the man in front of her into a tight hug as she sneezes. "What are you doing here?! I thought you were back at Radiant Garden?!" She cried, but sneezes again.

Boris blushed. "Le-Lea?!"

Hikari pulled away from Boris. "Oh… sorry—chi—… let me start—chi—over." She cleared her throat. "Axel~! It's so—chi—got to see you again—chi!" She replayed the scene, but with a different name.

"L-Look! I don't know about this Lea or Axel guy, but I think I'm getting jealous." Boris pouted as he stared into Hikari's eyes.

"Oh—chi—sorry there—chi!" Hikari sneezes again. "GAH! Stupid—chi—allergies!" she screamed into the air.

"Perhaps you're allergic to cats…" Gowland said with a nervously smile.

"How did you—chi—know?" Hikari asked looking up to the Duke.

Everyone stayed quiet for a few seconds before Pierce burst out laughing.

"O-Oh chu… I never thought someone would be allergic to the man cat chu~" Pierce wiped his tears of laughter away. He yelped as Boris flashed him a deep glare. Pierce threw himself to Hikari, hugging her shoulders. "You're my Knight in shining armor~!" He kissed Hikari's cheek.

"Hey! Get off of her!" Boris yelled and Hikari sneezed again. He instantly turned to walk away.

"W-Wait! Axel—I mean Boris! I didn't—chi—mean it! I lied—chi!" Hikari shouted between laughter and sneezes. "I'm—chi—not allergic to you! I-I'm allergic to—chi—DAFFODILS!" She yelled out loud.

Boris stopped in his tracks. "So you're not allergic to me?" He asked and Hikari only nodded with a sneeze. A grin made its way up to Boris' lips. He quickly hugged the sneezing brunette. "I'm so glad!" he chirped.

"Okay, you Stray Cat! Get off of her so we can leave this spot!" Gowland smacked Boris' head, making the cat's tail twitch.

* * *

3=~x~X~x=E

"Waaaah! It's feels good to breathe again~!" Hikari slumps into the park bench. She leaned back against the bench as Alice sat next to her. A cold metal touched her cheek. It was one of those canned drinks. Boris grinned as Hikari grabbed the bottle from his hand. She haven't had drink any canned drinks before. "Thanks Boris." She thanked.

Hikari began to try and open the drink. She huffed after trying to open it a few times. She finally shook the drink with all her might, hoping it will opened by itself.

Alice laughed nervously, "This is your first time drinking from a can?" she asked and Hikari nodded. "You just need to pull that lid." She pointed to the small lid.

The drink suddenly burst out of the can, spraying her with sticky liquid. "Gah! What the heck is this?! It's… sticky and orangey! And it smells like orange too!" The brunette whined.

"It's orange soda chu~!" Pierce replied with a bright smile. He brought a wet towel and began to wipe the stinky soda off of Hikari's face and hair. "There you go chu~ and here, I brought another chu~ it's already open chu~" He said, handing Hikari an opened can.

"You know what? I'm hungry…" Boris said out loud, making Pierce shrieked in horror. He quickly hid beneath the bench while shaking in dear. "Oh look! A mouse! What a surprise!" He grinned, a fork and a knife in hand.

"Boris!" Alice smacked Boris' head. "Leave Pierce alone!" She scolded.

Boris pouted as he crossed his arms over his chest. "No fun…" He huffed.

Hikari laughed as she took a sip from her drink.

"Better?" Gowland asked and Hikari nodded. "I should get rid of those Daffodils…" He murmured as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"No! Don't get rid of it because of me!" Hikari quickly yelled, stopping Gowland from putting out the Daffodils in his Amusement Park. "Other kids might love those Daffodils! Think about your customers! Don't worry about me! I could just avoid it!" She grinned, scratching the back of her head.

Gowland smiled. "If you say so,"

"Well, well, well, _Mary_… It seems that you're getting quite well with the new foreigner." A familiar voice said. Hikari glanced over to her right and saw the Mafia boss, Blood Dupre, but she seems to get his name wrong, changing his name to Blood Droopy instead. Blood had on a smirk while Elliot and the Bloody Twins were behind him along with a few Faceless members. Their hands were full of guns pointed at Gowland's direction. "Hello Alice. Hikari. What a pleasant surprise meeting you two here at _Mary's_ Amusement Park." Blood smiled.

'_Mary? Who the heck is Mary?'_ Hikari asked herself, scratching the back of her head as she began to think. "Ah… Fancy meeting you here, Blood Droopy." She took a sip from her soda.

"Hah! Blood Droopy?! That's hilarious!" Gowland laugh as he lowered his rifle.

Hikari raised an eyebrow, since when did he have a weapon in his hand?

Blood's eyebrow seemed to twitch, but he hid it under his fake smile to Gowland and Hikari. "But it's not as hilarious as your name, _Mary _Gowland." He smiled.

"Mary… Gowland?" Hikari repeated. Gowland's hand twitched a little as Hikari heard the gun clicked. "Huh… I don't know what's so funny about a guy named Mary… My name can also be used as a boy's name… Actually my bro and most of my friends have names that can also be for the opposite gender." She said with a shrug.

"R-Really? Do you mean that?" Gowland asked.

Hikari shrugged. "Well I usually laugh at something like that, but because I've met a lot of people with names that are the opposite of their gender and weird long names that I couldn't even get any right… I'm kind of tired of laughing…" She took another sip from her drink.

Gowland grinned. "Thanks kid, now…" He began, his rifle clicking. "I'm not giving you any of my territory!" He shouted.

Alice sweat dropped at the scene. "T-This is getting a bit too far…" She mumbled.

"I agree…" Hikari nodded her head in agreement.

"New Onee-chan~!" Two childish voices came and hugged Hikari by her neck, suffocating the poor girl. "We missed New Onee-chan and Onee-chan so much!" Dee and Dum cried in unison.

"Get the bloody heck off of me!" Hikari shouted, shoving the twins away. "You're scaring Pierce!" She looked down underneath the bench and Pierce was still shaking in fear.

"I-I'm scared chu…" Pierce said shakily.

"Don't worry Pierce, I'm not going to let any of them hurt you! I'm your Knight but minus the shining armor part!" Hikari jumped off the bench, showing off her 'muscles'.

"Thank you chu~!" Pierce jumped out from underneath the bench and jumped into Hikari's arms, making her carrying him bridal style. The Dormouse kissed Hikari on the cheeks again, carefully not kissing the part where a white paper was plastered on her cheek. "You're my hero chu~!" He sang happily.

"Hey!" The Bloody Twins and Boris screamed in unison. "Hikari! Are you really letting that rat kiss you?!" Boris pointed his finger at Pierce who started to cry.

"Boris! Stop making Pierce cry!" Alice scolded again.

Pierce sobbed as Hikari only stayed quiet. The Dormouse looked up. "Aren't I heavy chu~?" He asked with a small pout.

Hikari shook her head with a grin. "Nope~ you're as light as a feather! Personally, I say that to everyone I carry… because you know… oh never mind." She finished with a slight blush and grin to embarrass to tell them that she did pull-ups every morning.

Alice giggled. "You're so cute when you're blushing in embarrassment!" She squealed. "Oh! We should probably get out of here before Blood starts to—," The chestnut-haired girl saw that Blood and his gang suddenly retreated. "Oh… never mind!" she smiled.

"Awwww… We want to be with New Onee-chan and Onee-chan a bit longer~!" Dee whined as Dum approached Hikari. "Did New Onee-chan drink the Medicine of Hearts yet?" He asked with bright red eyes.

"Nope…" Hikari responded. She thought for a moment before remembering she left the vial on the table at the Castle of Hearts. "Whoops… I think I left it at the Castle of Hearts…" She sheepishly grinned at the Tweedle Twins.

"Awwww." The Bloody Twins whined in disappointment as they left Hikari and Pierce behind with Alice, Boris, and Gowland.

"Never seen them so disappointed…" Boris sighed heavily. Hikari stared at the Bloody Twins as she let Pierce down. She smiled and grabbed a red balloon. Boris raised an eyebrow at her. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"You'll see." Hikari winked.

"Wait a minute, you brats!" The brunette yelled loudly, running towards the disappointed twins. She crouched down as the twins looked at her confusedly. The new foreigner released the rope holding the air inside the balloon. Blood and Elliot even stop to see what she was planning to do with the balloon. Hikari placed the tip of the balloon in her mouth and inhaled the helium. "Hey~ don't be so glum now~" Her voice suddenly changed into a high and squeaky voice.

Dee and Dum blinked a few times staring confusedly at Hikari.

"Hey~! Now turn that frown upside down~!" Hikari said in a really high and squeaky voice. "New… _Onee-chan_ doesn't like seeing people frown in front of her~" She grinned as she patted the Bloody Twins' head.

"Hahahahahaha!" Dee and Dum laughed as they pointed their fingers at Hikari, who only grinned at them. "New Onee-chan's voice is so high and squeaky! We like New Onee-chan even more!" They both hugged Hikari's neck once more.

Hikari smiled. "Okay~ now… You two can go back to Blood~" She said with her voice still stuck in a high and squeaky tone. "See you two brats later~" She waved goodbye.

"See you later, New Onee-chan!" Dee and Dum shouted in unison.

The Amusement Park residence and Alice stayed quiet for a minute before bursting out into full laughter. Hikari glanced back with an amused smile. She was happy that she made everyone laugh full-heartedly and not the fake 'haha' laugh. She never did like frowning, but she also somehow likes to do it. She would shook her head and replace it with a grin, but when it comes to others. She would pinch both their cheeks and stretch it up into a smile no matter how much it was uncomfortable for the victim.

"My goodness!" Boris clutched his sides. "You have one squeaky voice, Hikari~" He grinned.

"Yeah—HEY! My voice is back to normal!" Hikari pumped her fist up in the air and released the left over helium, making the balloon fly everywhere and it landed on Hikari's head. She took the flat balloon off her head. She handed the airless balloon to Gowland. "Here 'ya go Gowland." She said.

Alice's laughter died down to giggles. "C'mon Hikari, I still have to show you the Clover Tower." She patted Hikari's shoulder.

"Okay~ See 'ya later Pierce! Boris! Gowland! Looking forward to spend more time with you guys! Oh and Boris? Don't you dare eat Pierce!" Hikari raised her fist up in a threatening way.

Boris laughed as he raised his hand. "Now… Where was I? Oh yes! Lunch time~!" He sang happily.

Pierce paled. "EEEEEEEEPPPPPPP!"

"BORIS!"

* * *

3=~x~X~x~=E

"The Clover Tower is where I currently live and it's the only neutral area besides the Circus," Alice explained as she leaded the way towards the tall tower where Hikari met 'July'. "Three Role-Holders life here, there's Julius Monrey—the guy you just met yesterday. Gray Ringmarc, former assassin. And of course, there's Nightmare Gottschalk… the owner of the Tower and a dream demon…" She continued her explanations.

"Huh? What?" Hikari asked with a puzzled look. "Oh, yeah, yeah, I hear you." She said, observing the Tower in front of her. "I hope that Julius guy isn't mad at me for calling him July…" She trailed off.

"Alice? What are you doing out here?" A voice asked from behind. Both girls turn to see a man with dark blue hair that matches his golden colored eyes. There's a dark blue lizard tattoo on his left side of his neck. He wore a simple neat dark gray suit. There are golden accents on his outfit with his buttons and links as well as the straps across his chest. The man stared at Alice and then to Hikari with a confused look. He was also carrying a lot of groceries in his arms. "Is she a friend or a foe?" He questioned.

"Geez dude, relax will you?" Hikari sighed, shaking her head as her arms were crossed. "A friend of course! My name's Hikari and you must be either Nightmare or Gray. I'm guessing you're… Nightmare! Am I right?" She turned to Alice with a hopeful look.

"No, sadly you're wrong…" Alice shook her head with a smile. "Hikari, meet Gray Ringmarc, Gray meet Hikari." she introduces.

Gray raised an eyebrow, "You have no surname?" He asked.

Hikari shook her head. "Nope~! Just Hikari!" She pointed her thumb to her chest.

"Oh Gray! Let me help you with those." Alice said as she grabbed a bag of groceries and placed one into Hikari's arms.

"Huh wait what?" Hikari started with a puzzled look as she stared at the large paper bag in her arms. She turned to Alice who flashed a 'help-Gray-carry-the-groceries' look. The brunette only shrugged as she shifted the bag in her arms into the right position. She didn't want Alice to be mad at her, after all, she is the only person she was close too at Wonderland. "So, Gray? Why did you buy a lot of… medicine and healthy foods?" She asked with disgust.

She despised both things with a passion!

"They're for Lord Nightmare." Gray simply replied with a straight look.

"Lord… Nightmare?" Hikari almost laughed.

"Yes, he is ill you see." Gray replied, ignoring that the brunette was snickering. He opened the front door and let both girls step in first. He closed the door behind him and leaded the two foreigners into the kitchen. "Please place those on the counter." He said.

Hikari did as told. She sat on the country watching as Gray and Alice began to put everything in its place. The keyblade wielder grabbed the bottle of medicine in the paper bag and observed it for awhile. She never drink any medicine since she was thirteen and that was four years ago! Whenever she got sick or anything, she just drink potion or just sleep it off. Maybe this Nightmare dude should try the potion instead of using this disgusting medicine. She simply tossed the bottle back into the paper bag.

"Alice! There you are! I was worried sick that you might get caught up with that stupid Knight again!" A new voice cried as he went inside the kitchen. Hikari stared at the man and the man stared back at her. The man has short straight silky silver hair matching his grey eye since his right eye was covered by a gold and black eye patch. He wore a dark gray suit with a frilled shirt underneath. He was very pale, paler that Kairi! This man must be Nightmare, the ill dream demon. "You must be Hikari correct?" He smiled.

"Yeah, I am. Nice to meet 'cha." Hikari grinned. She observed the man carefully. _'He looked like the Pirate Wanabe Xigbar….'_ The brunette raised an eyebrow at the man as he scoffed.

"I am not a pirate wannabe Xigbar!" Nightmare argued, pointing a finger at Hikari.

'_Wow~ how did he—,' _

"—_know'_? Well, my dear… I can read minds." Nightmare smiled as he walked towards the puzzled brunette.

"Cool! What am I thinking about now?" Hikari asked with a big grin.

"Hmmm," Nightmare hummed, tapping his chin. "You're thinking about sweets." he said.

"Wow! Correct! Again! What am I thinking now?" Hikari asked again, feeling excited all over again.

"'Lazing around the secret garden'." Nightmare chuckled. He turned his face away from the keyblade wielder as he started to hack and gagged blood. Hikari jumped off from the counter and placed a hand on the sick dream demon's back, patting slightly. "Do-Don't worry… this happens a lot…" He forced a smile.

Hikari gave a worried look. She let out a heavy sigh as Gray rush to his Lord's side. The brunette turned to Alice who only gave a sad smile. This man was really ill and he was still cheerful.

"Lord Nightmare, please drink your medicine." Gray grabbed a bottle of pills from the paper bag, handing them to Nightmare who shook his head furiously as blood came out from his nose.

"No way! I don't like medicines!" Nightmare shouted childishly. He suddenly felt like flying in the air. He looked up and he was being carried by the new foreigner! To add a scar to his pride, she was carrying him Bridal Style! He felt blood came out from his nose again while blushing in embarrassment. A man was supposed to carry a woman like this! Not the other way around. "Wha-What are you doing?! Put me down, Hikari!" He argued.

"I'll take him to his room." Hikari said to Gray and Alice, who only stared at her confusedly. "You two can start making lunch for him. At the mean time, I'll keep him company." She said with a grin.

"Alright," Gray nodded his head. "Lord Nightmare's room is at the third floor, go straight to the end of the hall, turn to your right, walk to another end, and the door to your left is his room." He instructed.

Hikari laughed nervously as she shifted a little. "Uh… I think I'll just ask Nightmare for directions." She admitted. She was a bit lost when it comes to direction, but she wasn't like Ace. She can still find her way around the places she often visited. After leaving the kitchen, Nightmare was still complaining about Hikari carrying him like that. She completely ignore the man's complain and continue to walk up the stairs. "So Nightmare… You're the owner of this tower?" She asked, trying to stop him from complaining.

"Yes, I am the owner of this tower. Gray and Julius are my subordinates." Nightmare replied.

"Where's this Julius guy anyway? I didn't see him in the kitchen." Hikari asked, reaching up the second floor.

Nightmare stared at Hikari for a moment before answering, "He's known as the Mortician. He fixes clocks. You didn't see him before because he always locked himself up in his office. Alice is the only person her warmed up to." He explained in a short summary. He suddenly started to hack and cough blood out again, staining Hikari's sleeveless blue jacket. "I-I'm sorry about your jacket." He apologized wiping his blood away with his hand.

"No worries, dude. I've been meaning to wash this jacket anyway." Hikari grinned as she shifted again to put Nightmare in a comfortable position. "Where to now, Nightmare? I think we're at the third floor already." She smiled.

Nightmare let out a chuckle, "We're at the fifth floor now…" He stated and Hikari nervously laughed as she turned to go two floors down. She can't believe that she just missed the third floor! The sick dream demon in her arms let out another chuckle. "Now just go straight, turn right, reach the end of the hall, and the door on your left is my room." he instructed.

Hikari nodded her head and did as told. She stopped because there was a man standing in the halls, staring at her with cold midnight blue eyes. Nightmare seemed to notice and turn his head slightly to his left and saw the Mortician.

"Julius!" Nightmare said loudly, calling the man.

"Nightmare," Julius greeted with a straight tone. "And you are the girl I saw yesterday." He said, staring right into Hikari's light blue eyes.

"'Julius', right?" Hikari asked and the Mortician nodded his head. "Well, my name's Hikari, the 'new' foreigner. It's nice to finally meet you properly." She answered with a sheepish smile.

Julius simply nodded. "Why are you carrying Nightmare?" He asked.

"Oh! I insisted to take him to his room while Gray and Alice prepares lunch for him~!" Hikari sang happily.

The cold Mortician only nodded again. "Very well." he said and walked pass by the brunette.

Hikari turned around and stared at Julius' back with a straight expression. She turned away to proceed walking towards Nightmare's room. It wasn't long when she finally reached the end of the hall. Nightmare opened the door to his room and the brunette steps inside the fairly large room colored mainly in blue, yellow, black, and gray. She carefully set Nightmare in his bed and dragged a chair to sit next to the bed.

"Does he always have to be that cold?" Hikari asked, leaning back against the chair.

Nightmare chuckled. "You'll get used to it." he said and began to cough blood again.

"Geez, Nightmare… Why don't you just go see a doctor?" Hikari sighed grabbed her handkerchief. She wiped the blood off Nightmare's mouth and hands. The sickly dream demon froze as the brunette was really close. "You're sicker than anyone I've ever met in my life…" She said.

"I despise Hospitals and needles…" Nightmare shuddered.

Hikari shook her head. "I don't like those too." she said, sitting back down to the chair. She took off her sleeveless blue jacket and sighed deeply. It's a good thing her one sleeved black turtleneck isn't harmed with Nightmare's blood. She loosed her neckerchief as she gripped her stained jacket. "Usually I just sleep it off or just drink a medicine from my world." She scratched the back of her head.

Nightmare blushed. This foreigner just took off her jacket in front of him! How rude! Luckily she still wore a black turtle neck underneath. "Really? Tell me, Hikari, you have one very imaginative mind. I find your thoughts are really interesting for my taste. Do you really think I look like a man named Xigbar? He's much older from the looks of his facial features." He asked with a small smile.

Hikari laughed. "Now that I really think of it, the only thing similar about you two is the eye patch! And you're right! The pirate wanabe is much older than you by the looks of it." She grinned. "How did you know?!" She asked with a smile.

"You see, I'm a dream demon who can read minds and enter someone's dreams." Nightmare answered.

"So you're like a Memory Wit—Wizard?" Hikari asked with a childish grin.

"You were going to say 'Witch' right?" Nightmare asked and Hikari only answered with a sheepish grin as she scratched the back of her head. "If that is what you think of me then so be it." He said.

"By the way have you drunk the Medicine of Hearts?" Nightmare asked. He read Hikari's mind and nodded his head with a small smile. "I see… You left it at the Castle of Hearts…" he said.

Hikari sighed. "What game am I playing when I drink that potion?" she asked curiously. "Peter and the Bloody Brats seem to make such a fuss about it…"

"Well, do you know why you're brought here by Peter?" Nightmare asked. Hikari shook her head. "I'm the one who told Peter to bring you here." he concluded.

"You're the one who told Peter to kidnap me?" Hikari asked confusedly with an eyebrow raised.

"Yes, he seemed so… desperate to get Alice's attention, but she hated him for stealing her first kiss." Nightmare began and stopped as he began to hack more blood. Hikari leaned forward and wiped the blood off his mouth and hand. "Tell me, Hikari. Do you believe in love at first sight?" he suddenly asked.

"Uh… maybe… no… why ask?" Hikari answered unsurely.

Nightmare smiled warmly. "When I showed him an image of you talking to your friend… he seemed to fall in love all over again. He said you almost looked like Alice for some reason. I don't know, but maybe he needs to get his eyes checked again." He paused, rubbing his temples. "But when I also look at you… My clock stopped ticking for some reason." He said, blushing a little.

"What? I don't get it... Why I have to drink that 'medicine'…" Hikari stressed out the word 'medicine' with a hiss. "Who knows… maybe that 'medicine of hearts' is actually a real medicine or a poison…" She deadpanned.

"Don't you want to go home?" Nightmare cuts in.

Hikari blinked. "Home…?" She asked.

"Yes, home. You'll have to drink the Medicine of Heart and play the game in order to go home." Nightmare said coughing slightly.

Hikari stared at the sickly dream demon with a straight look. "Maybe I don't want to go home just yet." She grinned as Nightmare stared at her with a confused look. Usually, a foreigner wants to go home when being dragged down into Wonderland. But Hikari… did she really mean what she said? "It's fun and relaxing here~! The people here are also nice~! Maybe I'm not ready to go home yet~!" she sang happily.

Nightmare laughed. "Maybe you would change your mind after a few time periods… The rules say that you have to drink the Medicine of Hearts." he smiled.

"Hmmm," Hikari hummed, tapping her chin. "I'll think about it… I tend to break rules quite often and besides I don't want to go home just yet~" she grinned sheepishly.

Nightmare chuckled. He stopped chuckling as something came to his mind. "Ah…"

"What's the matter?" Hikari asked with a worried look.

"It seems that the Circus has arrived." Nightmare smirked.

Hikari gave him a puzzled look. "What?"

* * *

**A/N: A very long one~ I guess I'm excited!**

**Remember~ Hikari has been to the Wonderland created by Lewis Carroll. You know the Alice in Wonderland ver. 1951? Where the Queen still likes to play croquet? That's the one ^^**

**Special thanks to: Forest-Animal, Himitsu the secretive otaku, Rafanan, and TheParadoxicalOtaku for adding this story to their favs!**

**Special thanks to: Forest-Animal, Himitsu the secretive otaku, and Rafanan fro adding this story to their alerts!**

**Reviews are very appreciated, and please no flames~**

**R&R please!**


	4. Mission 4: Let the Game Begin

**A/N: Took me a few days to type this up… I'm still thinking about ideas for my other stories, so maybe tomorrow I'll update TOaO, but no promises ^^"**

Rafanan: **Welcome ^^**

Himitsu the secretive otaku: **Thank you so much :3**

Sleeping Moon: **Thanks ^^ Okay, I'll check it out :D**

Austriantatious: **Yeah! Writing that was funny! Thanks ^^**

**Hikari © me**

**Any KH's characters or places mentioned © Square Enix**

**Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice © QuinRose**

* * *

3=~x~X~x~=E

Mission 4

Let the Game Begin

3=~x~X~x~=E

* * *

"'The Circus has arrived'?" Hikari repeated as she raised an eyebrow. Nightmare smirked before he began to cough once more. "I don't get it… I thought the Circus is already here at the first place…" She stated bluntly.

Nightmare let out a small chuckle. "No dear, that's not what I meant." He wiped the blood off his chin. "What I meant to say was… The Joker has invited us to come to his Circus." He corrected.

"Oh… I—I know that! I was just checking! Yeah, checking! That's all!" Hikari shouted as she turned away from the dream demon with a pout. She heard Nightmare chuckled. A smile curled up to her lips before turning into a confused frown. She just remembered. She doesn't even know who this Joker is. She turned back to face the sick dream demon. "Who's Joker anyway? Wait, wait, wait! Don't tell me! I wanna find out on my own!" She answered herself, laughing like a hyena.

"How old are you anyway? Seventeen or seven?" Nightmare asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Heh! All I can tell you that I'm in my teen years!" Hikari grinned as she gave him a thumb up.

Nightmare gave a small smile as he patted Hikari head lightly. All she did was grin and before she could even start up another conversation, the room was filled with Nightmare's coughing and hacking. A frown came to the brunette's lips. He was coughing blood. It wasn't normal. He was really ill. It was hurtful to watch. The brunette shook her head. Whenever her friends are either sick or injured, they weren't the only ones who are hurt. She was too. Her heart aches to see her friends are suffering while she isn't.

Life is so unfair sometimes…

Hikari turned her chair around to face the window. She leaned back against her chair, making it stand on two of its feet, while she crossed her hands behind her head. Her bright blue eyes were staring into nothingness, drifting into her daily daydream. She needs to be carefully around this sick dream demon. He can read her thoughts and invade her dreams. The keyblade wielder tried her best not to think of her past life from when she was only thirteen till now. She doesn't want her new friend to know about how dangerous it is out there. He was too sick to know.

"Hikari~!" A voice shouted cheerfully as the door slammed open. Startled, Hikari lost her balance and fall backwards to the floor, her head hitting the red carpeted floor with a loud thud. She whines in pain as she rubbed the spot where her head hit the floor. She glanced up to see the Knight of Hearts with that idiotic smile on his face. She glared at him with a scowl. "Awww~ Did I startle you?" The voice asked as he crouched down.

Hikari's eyes widened in surprised. Her reputation would be ruined! "NO! Of course not! I just lost my balance! That's all!" She defended, trying to convince Ace that she only lost her balance.

"Oh really?" Ace asked as he ruffled Hikari's short cut brown hair. "Looks like you were startled by me~! It's a shame that I can't see that startled face of yours." He pouted.

Hikari glared at the Knight. "You wanna see it? Huh? Wanna see it?! Then here!" She made the face when she was startled. Ace and Nightmare blinked a few times before Ace burst into full laughter and Nightmare chuckles. Hikari was making a weird face. Her eyes were wide and her mouth hung open in surprise. "There! You've seen it! Happy now Ace?! Now the back of my poor head hurts!" She whines and shook her fist in anger.

Ace laughed once more before he turned the smaller brunette around. He rested a large gloved hand on her left shoulder as his right hand held her fist tightly. He leans down to the smaller figure. A smirk appeared on his lips as Hikari was yelling something about personal space. He didn't saw her face getting red from the sudden encounter, but he did saw the look in her fiery blue eyes. His smirk would widen if it could. He blow air into her left ear and she shuddered. Narrowing his red eyes, he saw Nightmare got a nosebleed. A dark chuckle escapes Ace's throat as he kisses the back of Hikari's head.

"What did you just do?" Hikari asked curiously with an eyebrow raised as she narrowed her eyes to the Knight behind her.

Ace smirked. "I kissed your boo-boo~!" he sung happily.

Hikari instantly paled. "EEEEWWWWW! COOTIES! Evil little cooties in my hair! Evil little cooties in my HAIR!" She screamed loudly and slipped out of Ace's grasps easily. The brunette began to run around Nightmare's room as she avoided all of the furniture. Ace and Nightmare stares blankly at the screaming girl in the room. She finally trips, landing face first on the carpeted floor. She muffled something into the carpet.

Ace tilted his head to the side. He leaned down, cupping his ear. "What was that? We didn't quite hear you, Hikari." He asked. Hikari muffled something into the carpet again. "You really need to stop talking to the floor Hikari… literally." He said with a smile.

Hikari lifted her head up slightly. "I said _'You idiot! You've just contaminated me with your stupid cooties! Don't you know that cooties are dangerous?!'_ that's what I kept saying!" she smacked the back of Ace's head.

"Awwwweeeee!" Ace whines as he rubbed the spot where Hikari has hit him. "But you let Pierce kiss your cheek! No fair!" He huffed childishly.

"That's because Pierce is still a—WAIT! How did you know?!" Hikari demanded with a confused, yet shocked look.

Ace grinned, "Hehehe~ I have my ways!" he whistled a tune.

Hikari gave a look to the Knight. "Okay…. As I was saying, that's because Pierce is still a kid!" She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at the Knight. After a few seconds of silence, Ace and Nightmare laughed, making the keyblade wielder raised her eyebrow confusedly. "What? What's so funny?! Ace?! Nightmare?! Aw! C'mon dudes! Tell me!" She shook Ace back and forth by the collar of his shirt.

"Hikari, Pierce is two years older than you." Nightmare stated with a chuckle. He wiped his tears of laughter away, smiling at the brunettes. His eye saw the dumbfound look on Hikari's face. He sweat dropped. "He's uh… nineteen years old." he tried to say.

"WHAT?! I thought he was still a kid with that face! He's too adorable to be a teenager!" Hikari complained, standing up to her feet and she offered a helping hand to Ace. She looked at the brown haired man with a look. She was beginning to doubt everyone's age. What if Ace is a little kid in a tall man's body? Or what if Ace is an old man in a tall man's body?! She blinked the thoughts away as Nightmare chuckles. "How old exactly are you Ace? No offence for asking about your real age, but I'm beginning to doubt everyone's age here." she sighed.

"Awww… You're interested in me?! I'm so happy!" Ace cheered happily as he embraced the small brunette in his arms, crushing her with a hug. "And as for your question… I'm exactly twenty two, five months, two weeks, eleven hours, twenty minutes, and four… five… six—," he was cut off by a hand on his mouth.

"We get it!" Hikari cuts in, smiling nervously.

Ace smiled and removed Hikari's hand from his mouth. "—years old," he finishes. He sniffed Hikari's palm and smiled creepily, his eyes turning to a darker shade of red. "Your hand smells like blood…" he trailed off.

Nightmare paled and Hikari notices the color draining out of his face. "Well, I was wiping blood off of Nightmare's hands and mouth." She quickly snatched her hand back from Ace with a straight look. "So yeah, my hand does smells a bit like blood. Same goes for my jacket too…" she exhaled a deep breath, scratching the back of her head.

"Jacket?" Ace repeated.

"Yeah, jacket." Hikari pointed to her blue sleeveless jacket in the corner of the room. "My poor, poor, poor jacket was covered in blood. So I had to take it off." She gave another sigh. "But luckily~ my turtle neck and neckerchief are unharmed! Yay!" She cheered happily.

Ace chuckles, "Why…. Nightmare~ I didn't know you—,"

"ACE!" Nightmare hissed with a hint of red on his cheeks. He quickly grabbed Ace's collar, pulling the Knight closer. The sickly dream demon's blushing face was a few inches away from Ace's calm and smiling face. "She's too dense to even realize anything, you idiotic Knight! I would like to keep that denseness! It's too adorable!" he hissed out, releasing Ace's collar,

Ace merely laughed as he fixes his shirt. "Okie-dokie~! I like it too~!" He said as he walked towards the door, waving his arm goodbye. He stopped right at the door. He slightly looked over his shoulder. A glint of mischief in his eyes and a smirk played on his lips. "It's very amusing~!" he sung before leaving.

Hikari stared at the Knight. "What the heck just happened? What's amusing? Is he talking about the Circus?! Is he?! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! No wait! Don't tell me!" She jumped on Nightmare's bed a few times, before sitting down at the edge of the bed.

Nightmare let out a full-hearted laugh, placing a hand on Hikari's shoulder. "You changed your mood so fast. One minute you were complaining about cooties, and the next about Pierce's age, and then about this." he smiled.

Hikari's smile fell at the reminder of cooties. "COOTIES!" She screamed, jumping out from the bed as she began to run around the room once more.

She tripped yet again.

Nightmare shook his head as there was a knock on his door.

"Lord Nightmare, lunch is ready." Gray knocks on the door before stepping in the room. His eyebrows were raised confusedly as he stared at the two people inside. Nightmare was in bed with Hikari on the floor, laying on her front. The former assassin sighed deeply before shaking his head. "What is going on here?" he asked with a calm tone.

Alice peeks out from behind Gray and stared with her big gray-ish blue eyes. "Uh… What are you doing on the floor Hikari? You know… if you're tired, you can always use one of the room here." she giggled, helping the brunette up.

"Thanks Alice, but I'm not tired." Hikari replied, rubbing her nose as is throbs. Her nose was changing color, from tan-ish to reddish. She almost looked like that reindeer. The brunette glanced around and leans forward while covering her mouth from view. "I'm trying to get rid of the cooties!" she whispered out.

"Cooties?' Alice whispered back, confused.

"Yeah, cooties!" Hikari repeated.

Alice shook her head, "Hikari, there's no such thing as cooties." She smiled.

"Oh yeah?" Hikari pouted and showed the big lump on the back of her head. "Then why is there a big lump on the back of my head, precisely the place where Ace kissed it?! It's one of the side effects of the cooties!" She cried silently in the corner of the room.

A visible vein popped on Alice's forehead. _'That stupid Knight…'_ She grumbles in her mind before smiling at Hikari, who was still crying. "It's okay Hikari. Cooties don't exist, trust me. Ace was just joking around." she nervously laughed.

Alice spotted Hikari's sleeveless blue jacket in the corner of the room, covered with smudged with crimson liquid. "How about we go shopping for clothes? I see that your old jacket is covered in blood." She suggested.

"Shopping? There are stores here?" Hikari asked, crawling away from her little corner. Even though she hated shopping, she needs a new jacket to wear. Wearing her turtleneck and her neckerchief was fine, but she has a thing with jackets. She always liked the hood part of every jacket. It covers her face and hair when needed to and it also gives her the 'mysterious' look. "I'm not much a fan of shopping for clothes… I'm much more of a food, weapon, and gag toys kind of girl…" she sheepishly admitted.

Alice giggled, "Oh I'm sure you'll love it! Come on!" she grabbed Hikari's hand and dragged her out.

"H-Hold on Alice! I didn't even have lunch yet!" Hikari cried, her voice echoing through the long halls.

Nightmare and Gray stared as the two foreigners left the room. Gray notices something on the floor, a small bottle—not bigger than his palm—with a very suspicious liquid inside. It was more suspicious than the Medicine of Hearts. The former assassin grabbed the small bottle and examined it with his sharp golden eyes. He turned the bottle around and saw some writing on the glass bottle in small black words.

"Lord Nightmare," Gray began, turning to his Lord with a straight expression. The sick dream demon lifted his head up to his assistant. He showed Nightmare the little bottle. "Do you know who owns this item? I find it too suspicious to be the Medicine of Hearts that belongs to that girl, Hikari." he said, handing the bottle.

Nightmare raised an eyebrow. He never saw any Medicine of Hearts in a small bottle with multiple glowing liquids inside before. He turned the bottle around and found the same writing Gray found a minute before. He carefully read the small words.

—_**To Nightmare~**_

_**Drink this! Trust me! It'll make you feel better!— **_

'_Strange… when did Hikari wrote this?'_ Nightmare thought confusedly.

* * *

3=~x~X~x~=E

"Can we at least eat something?" Hikari breathed out, her shoulders slump down as low as she can while trying not to drop any shopping bags. She insisted to carry every shopping bag, but Alice didn't want to burden the brunette. So Alice also carries a few bags. "I'm still _starving_, Alice…" The brunette groaned out, sounding miserable as she dragged her feet to keep up with Alice's pace.

It's been a few hours since Alice dragged Hikari into the town. The chestnut-haired girl dragged Hikari in and out of every clothes story, literally. The stubborn brunette clings on a nearby pole and refuses to enter any clothes store while she was looking at the food stands. Eventually, Alice managed to drag and make Hikari try on the clothes she picked out. Sadly, Hikari only liked the jackets and what's worse is that the jackets she liked were at the men's department! It was hard trying to convinced her to buy more girly outfits, but Alice did bought her some skirts and some other non-too-girly clothing. Hikari _has_ to wear them, whether she liked it or not.

"Ugh… hold on there, girl…" Hikari patted her growling stomach as she sighed heavily. "Food can't be far away!" she groaned, trying to convince Alice that she was dying from hunger with her horrible acting.

Alice smiled before jogging towards a nearby food stand. Hikari never did notice the disappearance of the chestnut haired girl because she was too busy daydreaming about lunch. She hasn't eaten anything but breads, cookies, drink canned drinks and drink tea for the past two time periods. The brunette groaned loudly as her stomach growls.

"Hey Alice—," Hikari was suddenly silenced by something being shoved into her mouth. "Wha? Awice! Wha is twis?!" She demanded, panic in her tone.

"It's a hot dog." Alice said, smiling.

"It's a _dog_?" Hikari almost spit the food out of her mouth, but she can't actually do that when there's a little Faceless girl in front of her. Hikari scanned the area with eyes of a killer. Whoever claims the idea of hot dogs is going to get his or her butt kicked! She heard a man yelling out the words. She pun around and found a Faceless man with colorful clothing. The brunette was really going to throw the stand owner across the country if Alice wasn't holding her by her arm. "Alice! Let go! I'm going to teach that man a lesson!" the angered brunette hissed out.

Alice struggled to keep Hikari away from the hot dog seller. "Hikari! Don't! He's innocent!" She yelled, trying to stay in place. Hikari was slowly dragging her, wearing her heels out on the concreted path as a small dust cloud could be seen from her the heel of her red shoes. "He's not actually selling hot _dogs_! It's just what we call it! It's not actual dogs!" She shouted.

Hikari stopped on her tracks. Her murderous look was turned into a confused look. "What? So what you're saying is that these are not dogs?" She tilted her head as she observed the food in her hand.

Alice took a deep breath of relief before answering, "Yeah, trust me. I would do the same as you if it were dogs." She inhaled a deep breath. The chestnut-haired girl observed the confused young brunette in front of her as she sniffs the hot dog to make sure it doesn't reek of smell. A giggle escaped her lips at how innocent and clueless Hikari is. She hates to admit it, but she doesn't want Hikari to leave Wonderland just yet. It was a selfish thought, then again… Hikari did say that she didn't want to leave just yet.

"Hurry up and eat it! It's not poisoned!" Alice said. She saw that Hikari seemed to hesitate for a moment before taking a bite. The brunette's eyes widened and her shoulders began to shake. Alice's shoulders cringed before patting Hikari's back a few times. "Hikari! What's wrong?! Is it really poisoned?! Are you okay?!" Alice asked worriedly.

"T-This… Hot dog…" Hikari managed to squeak out as she crouched down.

"Y-Yeah?" Alice say, frantically looking for a doctor around.

"IS DELICIOUS!" Hikari exclaimed happily, pumping her fist up in the air.

Alice blinked a few times. "Huh?"

Hikari grinned at Alice, "This hot dog is delicious! I've never taste anything like it! The favor of this hot dog is unique!" she exclaimed, taking another bite of her hot dog happily.

Alice took a deep sigh of relief, pacing a hand over her chest. The childish brunette almost gave her a heart attack! She never knew someone would reach so dramatically after eating their first hot dog. Hikari was the first one to react like that, as if she almost had a real heart attack. A visible vein popped on Alice's forehead as her fist shook in anger.

"Hey Alice~OW!" Hikari sang with a mouthful of her hot dog, but was quickly cut off when something hit the top of her head. She rubbed the spot while crying out in pain. Blue eyes with tears of pain stared up at the chestnut-haired girl in front of her. "What was that for?! I didn't do anything wrong!" Hikari whined.

"That's for almost giving me a heart attack! I was worried that you might be really poisoned or something!" Alice scolded, with her hands on her hips.

Hikari blinked and grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. "Hehehe… Sorry Alice, I didn't know my overreaction would make you so shocked." She apologized.

Alice sighed, "I'm sorry too… for hitting you." She said, helping Hikari up to her feet.

"No biggie~!" Hikari said quickly before munching down her whole hot dog.

Alice giggled before finishing up with her hot dog as well. "We better head back to the Clover Tower, Julius and the others might be worried." She said as she handed Hikari a drink, which she happily took. "It looks like it's almost night time and it's dangerous to be lurking in the night…"

"Dangerous? Why?" Hikari asked as she and Alice began to walk towards the direction of the Clover Tower, with Alice leading of course.

"There are wild animals lurking around and faceless who wants us, foreigners, dead." Alice explained as she rubbed her arms, trying to keep warm.

Hikari nodded her head and moved all of the shopping bags into one hand. She was trying to take off her brand new jacket with only using one hand. It was a long sleeved white jacket with two black stripes at the sleeve and of course, it also has a hood. Carefully, Hikari placed her white jacket around Alice's shivering body.

"What are you doing?" Alice question as she raised an eyebrow.

Hikari smiled warmly. "Helping you of course~!" She sang as she took the bags away from Alice's hands.

"Yo—You don't have to! Those are heavy!" Alice complained, trying to take back her bags.

"Psssh! This is like carrying those Bloody Brats! Light as a feather! Don't worry about me Alice, I'm fine~!" Hikari grinned happily.

Alice didn't look convinced. "Aren't you cold?" she asked, gripping on the jacket around her shoulder.

Hikari shook her head, the smile never leaving her lips. "Nope, I'm used to the cold… My home town can be really cold sometimes." She replied, shifting the bags in her hand to a better position. "Besides, I still have my neckerchief and my arm covers~" she laughed happily.

Alice shook her head with a small smile. "Thank you," She said in a clear tone. A sheepish grin made its way to Hikari's lips, a tint of red brushed across her cheeks. The chestnut-haired girl couldn't help but giggle. Hikari was so childish and clueless, but she can also be caring to a friend. She's nothing like her friends back at England. They only befriend her because of her father's wealth. Hikari was defiantly nothing like her so called friends. "Even though we just met a couple of time periods ago… you're very kind to me, Hikari." Alice smiled.

"Well yeah! We're friends, right?" Hikari asked, looking at Alice with her signature grin. "Friends help each other!" she continued, trying to pump her fist up in the air.

"Yeah, we're defiantly friends." Alice laughed, wrapping the jacket closer to her body. Her gray-ish blue eyes saw Hikari grinning goofily, but that's not all she saw. A large shadow towered over behind the brunette, holding a weapon. Her eyes widened in shock and her mouth hung open, trying to speak out and warn the brunette on what's coming. "Hikari! Behind you!" she screamed.

Hikari quickly turned around. Her blue eyes widened as a large figure was behind her, holding some kind of weapon pointed at her head. She didn't have time to block the man's attack. The man had already hit her head, hard. The keyblade wielder falls to her knees, dropping every bag she has in her hands before laying completely at the ground. She felt something warm tickling down her face as her vision blurred. To her surprise, she never lets her guard down when there's someone planning to ambush. Perhaps she was just used to the Heartless ambushing her. She didn't train hard enough if humans were the one ambushing her.

"One down, one left." The Faceless muttered with a sinister smirk on his lips.

Alice took a few steps back, her eyes widened in pure horror. The Faceless just took Hikari down with a single hard whack on the head. The hit even echoes through to where she was standing. The red liquid staining Hikari's face made Alice shuddered. Hikari could be seriously injured and she might even be…dead. Alice shook the negative thoughts away. Her gray-ish blue eyes stare right to the group of rebels in front of her. All of them were fully equipped with weapons, starting from pocket knives to rifles. Most importantly, they all had sinister smirks.

Alice gulped. Where was Ace when you need him!

"This should be easy," The other Faceless said as he pulled the hammer of his gun.

"P-Please… St-Stop!" Alice begged as tears filled her eyes.

The leader of the rebels laughed. "Why should we when we're so close to killing the precious foreigner that belongs to the Joker?" he asked.

"I –I don't belong to anyone!" Alice shouted as her hands were balled up into tight fists, trying to scare the rebels away. Instead of running away, the rebels laughed. One of the rebels grabbed Alice's wrist and held them back tightly. The chestnut haired girl struggled to get out of his grip, but he was just too strong! "Let go of me, you ruffian!" She felt tear streaming down her pale cheeks.

"Awww… She's struggling! She's a lot feistier than the dead one." The man referred to an unconscious brunette.

"NO! She's not dead! Hikari! Wake up! Run! Hurry!" Alice cried loudly, struggling even more to get out of the Faceless' grasp.

"It's useless, lady." The man behind her said. "She's _dead_ now." he chuckled darkly.

Alice turned her face away as she closed her eyes tightly. She refuses to belive that Hikari's dead, but she also didn't want to see her lying lifelessly on the ground.

"A…Alice…" A hoarse voice called up to Alice weakly. Alice instantly perked her head up to the source. It was Hikari's voice! She sounded so weak… so vulnerable. Alice's gray-ish blue eyes watch as Hikari slowly lifted herself up to her feet with blood dripping from her forehead. The brunette stumbled a few times, but managed to keep standing. Her blue eyes weren't the normal bright and cheerful blue eyes, it was different now. It was now a dark shade of blue, a murderous look could be seen in her eyes. Alice gulped, this wasn't the Hikari she knew.

"Al-Alice… Close your eyes and… wait until I told you to open them, okay?" Hikari asked with a small, forced smile.

Alice could only nod as he closed her eyes tightly, hoping that this will all be over when any Role-Holder came into the rescue. Heck she didn't mind Peter popping out of nowhere now! All that she cares is Hikari's and her own safety.

Hikari closed her eyes as she cracked her knuckles. She was far beyond pissed. She was _super_ pissed. A man just jumped at her and hit her right at the head! It hurts like Oblivion! But she wasn't just mad because the man hit her, no, she was also mad because they wanted to kill Alice as well! Nobody and she means nobody, threatened her friends. A dark look was seen on her face as she stared up to the rebel's boss. Her eyebrows furrowed down as her lips twitched in a scowl.

"You guys… really did pissed me off…" Hikari said darkly, scowling at the rebels. She saw the Faceless rebels flinched at the sudden change. A grin made its way to her lips as he eyes glinted with mischief. "Awww… Did I really scare you?" she teased.

"Shut up, you b****! I thought I killed you already!" The rebels' boss shouted, pointing a gun straight at Hikari's head.

"Killed me? With what? A hit on the head? Pffft! You make me laugh!" Hikari clutched her sides, laughing. She wiped the tears away from her eyes, creating a smug of red on her face.

"It'll take more than that to kill me, fellas." Hikari grinned as she stood in a fighting stance. "How about we settle this once and for all? I'll be happy to send you guys back to where you truly belongs." She smiled sweetly at them.

Alice was worried sick about Hikari. The chestnut-haired girl kept her eyes closed the whole time. She flinches whenever she heard any punches, kicks, gunshots, and screams of pain. The Faceless holding her was keeping a tight grip around her wrists. It was beginning to ache and she could feel the throbbing pain. She heard Hikari argued a lot with the rebels, throwing some insults and laughs.

"Gah!" The man behind her shouted loudly as the grip around her wrist was loosened. A loud thud was heard soon after the scream.

Alice let out a sigh of relief as she slides down to the ground. Her legs were like jelly, she couldn't handle the sounds of screams any longer. Suddenly, she felt another pair of strong arms wrap around her shoulder. She cringed, but soon relaxed a little as the arms were holding her protectively. It wasn't the same grip as the man who was holding her hostage. It was different. There's no mistake that the person must be Hikari.

"Alice… Are you okay?" Hikari asked quietly, lightly gripping her hands on Alice's trembling shoulder. "You can open your eyes now, Alice… There's nothing to be afraid of, I'll be here to protect you from those buttheads." She reassured with a small smile.

Alice slowly opened her eyes. "Hi—Hikari…" She whispered and felt something warm dripped to her cheek. It was blood, _Hikari's_ blood. The chestnut-haired girl stared in horror as the blood from the wound on her head kept on bleeding. "Yo—Your face is covered in blood! We need to get out of here! Now!" She half yelled, gripping on the jacket around her shoulders.

Hikari nodded her head, turning slightly to face the fully armed rebels. "Right. I'll distract them and when I shout 'run', you'll run as fast as you can to the Clover Tower, okay?" she whispered out the plan as quietly as she can.

Alice's eyes widened. "W-What?! I'm not leaving you behind with these guys!" She argued.

"Yes you are. I'll be fine, Alice. Don't worry about me. You can get help once you returned to Clover Tower." Hikari said, shaking her head as she stood up. "And besides… My friends taught me a lot in self defense and other things that I have to know. Now stand back… things are going to get pretty ugly." She cracked her knuckles and stood in a fighting stance.

Alice nodded. "Al—Alright, please be careful…" she whispered.

Hikari smiled, taking that as a 'good luck' line. "You got it."

"Are you ready to give up, you pesky little brat?" The rebels' boss asked, the smug smirk never leaving his face.

Hikari's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "I don't even know the term 'give up', you butthead!" She cursed as she waved her fist angrily at the rebels. She charged at them, punching and kicking every rebels there is, like there's no tomorrow.

A few minutes passed by and Hikari was already covered in sweat, blood, bruises, and cuts. It stings, but she just has to bear with it until she reached Clover Tower. She could use her keyblade, magic, and other magical things, but Alice would have heard her shouting over those magic words. She didn't want to risk anyone here at the new Wonderland know that she's actually a keyblade wielder.

Alice watched from behind a large tree trunk. Her whole body was trembling from head to toe. It was like a war zone out there. Hikari was defenseless. She was weaponless against those groups of rebels. If it wasn't for her combat skills, she couldn't even survive a second out there.

She watched as Hikari charged at the rebels' boss. She avoided most of the bullet that was headed towards her, but most of the bullets scratched her skin. She jumped after she was right in front of the boss. The keyblade wielder landed behind the rebels' boss, leg sweeping him to the ground. She did a back-flip as one of his goons was trying to punch her. She blocked the punch and threw him over her shoulder. The other men were trying to harm her as well, not stopping for a few seconds. Every time and even when she was fighting a goon, another show up with a weapon in hand.

Alice flinched and closed her eyes tightly as Hikari was thrown to the ground roughly.

"—lice! ALICE!" Quickly, said girl snapped out of her thoughts. Alice saw that the brunette was wrestling a rebel on the ground with all her might. The rebel struggled to get away, trashing every time he has the chance. He landed a punch to Hikari's jaw and she rolled away from the rebel. A gun was pointed straight at Alice, but suddenly Hikari put the rebel in a headlock from behind, making him miss his shot. "Quick! Get out of here! Now! Run as fast you can and never look back!" Hikari commanded.

Alice nodded hesitantly before sprinting as fast as she can towards the Clover Tower. She tightly grips the jacket around her shoulder. She closed her eyes as tears were at the corner of her eyes, at the verge of crying like a waterfall. Gunshots and screams didn't help her at all. It was making her feel worse. Tears were now staining her cheeks.

'_Don't worry Hikari, I'll come back with help!'_

* * *

3=~x~X~x~=E

"Peter, I told you before, Alice and Hikari aren't here." Julius let out a deep sigh as he stopped for a brief moment from fixing the clocks. The long haired man has been bothered by the Prime Minister for the pass hour. He kept on demanding the exact location of where Alice and Hikari were. The Mortician kept on saying that he doesn't know, but the Prime Minister refuses to believe him. Ace, Gray and Nightmare weren't much of a help either. Those three were busy sitting down and having tea instead of helping him. "Peter, for the last time, I do not know. Now please leave before I use force." He said, motioning his screw in hand to the door.

"But, but, but… my poor little kitten left the Medicine of Hearts! I came to return this to her~!" Peter lifted the Medicine of Heart high above his head as he has hearts all over him. "Tell me, Mortician! Where are you hiding my precious foreigners?!" he demanded, his pocket watch transformed into a gun.

Julius rubbed his temples. "Get. Out." He hissed between clenched teeth.

"I'm not leaving until I see my dear kitten and my dear ex!" Peter exclaimed, pointing his gun at Julius' head.

"Ah~ this is going to be interesting~" Ace sang happily as he leaned back against the couch, cross-legged.

Julius glared at the brown haired knight before turning to Peter again. "I. said. Get. Out—,"

"JULIUS!" Alice's voice was heard as the door slammed opened.

Julius and the other Role-Holders in the room turn their heads towards the door. The Mortician's midnight blue eyes widened in surprise as he saw Alice's appearance. The chestnut-haired girl's hair was a bit messy, there were signs of her wrists being held so tightly that purple marks appear, her white apron and her blue dress has blood smudged all over, and her eyes shows fear. The other thing that was off about her was the white jacket around her shoulder.

The Mortician quickly stood up from his seat, his eyes darkening.

_This must be the work of that girl, Hikari…_ Julius thought darkly.

"Alice! What happened?!" Gray immediately rushed to her side, checking for her injuries.

"My dear ex! Who did this to you?!" Peter demanded, he also rushed to Alice's other side.

"No time!" Alice grabbed Gray's hand, trying to drag him out of the room. "Gray! You need to help Hikari! She's in trouble!"

Gray pulled back his hand. "Alice, calm down and tell us what really happened." He placed both of his hands on Alice's shoulders, trying to calm the young woman down. The young woman didn't calm down. Instead, she kept threw herself into Gray's chest, crying. The former assassin patted her head gently, trying to soothe her. "Alice… Calm down. No one is going to hurt you here… Now tell us what happened." He said.

"Hi-Hikari… sh-she—," Alice began but was cut off by Julius.

"I knew that girl was trouble," Julius spat, gripping on his wrench. "She was the one who hurt you, am I correct?" he asked with a murderous look.

Peter pointed his gun at Julius' head. "Mortician! Don't you dare accuse my precious kitten! My little kitten would never do that to my dear ex!" He shouted loudly.

"W-Wait—," Alice tried, but was cut off once more.

"Where is she now?" Gray asked, his knife was drawn out from its holster.

"No! P-Please! Listen to me!" Alice grabbed Gray's hand and pushed the knife down, trying to make him withdraw his knife away. "Hikari didn't do this to me, this is her blood! We need to help her now! She's fighting off a group of rebels on her own!" She quickly exclaimed with a frantic look.

The first Role-Holder who snapped out of his thoughts was the Prime Minister of Hearts. Soon after, everyone followed in pursuit, all except Nightmare and Julius. No matter how tempted the sick dream demon wants to help the new foreigner, he was too weak outside the tower. Julius on the other hand, didn't have any reason to help the new foreigner out. She has Gray, Peter, and Ace to help her out. So she doesn't need another Role-Holder to help her out, right?

"You know, Hikari is not that bad…" Nightmare began, sipping his warm tea. The Mortician turned his head towards the sick dream demon with a frown. "She's a really nice girl once you get to know her, Julius." The dream demon continued.

Julius turned away, going back to his desk. "I have nothing to do with that foreigner."He said bluntly, placing his glasses back. The long-haired man began to work on another clock. The steady beating of the grandfather clock's ticking filled the room. The Mortician really didn't want to involve himself to the new foreigner. She hasn't drunk the Medicine of Hearts and she's so childish. She was way different than Alice's personality. "For all I know, she could be the one who hurt Alice… she was too afraid to tell us because maybe that girl threatened her." He concluded bitterly.

Nightmare let out a small chuckle. "Who knows, Julius… you might be right." he said, taking another sip from his cup. "But unfortunately, you're wrong. Hikari didn't hurt Alice at all. The blood you see staining Alice's clothes were her blood and the jacket is also hers. She gave it to Alice to keep her warm from the strong cold evening wind." He said, his eye staring straight to the Mortician.

Julius let out a heavy sigh.

* * *

3=~x~X~x~=E

"This isn't over you brat!" The rebels' boss shouted as he and his goons retreated.

"Hah! Tell it to my fist, you dumb-butt!" Hikari raised her fist up, cussing.

After Alice ran towards the Clover Tower, Hikari used the chance to summon her keyblade. The rebels' eyes were as wide as plates when they saw her summoning a giant key-sword-like to hand. Quickly, she used every method she knew from her friends to knock some senses to the rebels' puny minds. She gave a good whack to their heads, knocking them out cold. Finally, after scaring them with her keyblade, they retreated rather quickly. It was like they were running away from a monster or something, but they were running away from a seventeen year old girl who's already experience in combat since she was little.

"Aweee," Hikari flinched as the cuts on her whole body began to sting. There weren't any fatal wounds, but they still need to be treated properly. She wanted to use magic to heal her wounds or even use the potion, but she can't actually do that. Alice would suspect something was off. Hikari was covered in cuts and bruises, but after Alice left her for ten minutes, she was as good as new! No cuts or anything, but only blood covering her skin. Now the keyblade wielder can't have that. "Sure wish I can use magic to heal these up…" She sighed heavily.

"Darn… they ruined my clothes…" Hikari muttered as she kicks a nearby pebble, flinching as she moved her leg.

"Hikari!" The brunette heard her name being called multiple times. She turned around and saw Alice running towards her with a frantic look. "Oh my goodness! You're bleeding all over!" The young woman cried loudly.

"Ahahaha, well… you see… The rebels did damage me a little…" Hikari sheepishly said, rubbing the back of her head.

"Little? They've beaten you up mercilessly!" Alice shouted, placing her hands on her hips. "Where are they now?" she asked.

"It's okay Alice… Don't worry… I kind of scared them away…" Hikari breathed out, feeling a bit woozy.

Alice franticly looked around for the Role-Holders. "Hang on okay? Gray! Ace! Peter! Where are you?! I need your help!" she shouted into the forest.

"I'm coming my sweet foreigners~!" Peter White's voice echoed throughout the forest around them. The Prime Minister of Hearts jumped out from the bush, avoiding the leaves and twigs. His crimson eyes widened underneath his round glasses. "My sweet! What happened to you?! Who did this to you?!" he demanded.

Gray and Ace came out a few seconds after Peter did. They both were as shock as Peter was.

The new foreigner was covered in her own blood! From her head to her legs, they were full of bruises and cuts. The small brunette was grinning reassuringly at everyone, trying to convince them that she was fine. Even with that grin, they knew that she was faking to be fine. They could see the pain in her expression as her eyebrow twitched and sweat was strolling down her face like a waterfall. The wound on her head wasn't helping either, it was still dripping blood.

"Ah~ I'm fine! See? I can still—," Hikari showed that she could walk, but after a few steps, she flinched and began to stumble back and forth. "—walk. No need to worry about me dudes and dudette!" she laughed.

Alice's fists shook with anger boiling inside of her.

_Slap_

"A…Alice?" Hikari began, blinking confusedly as she held her left cheek.

How could Hikari say she was fine when she was obviously hurt?!

"Alice…" Peter whispered as he, Gray, and Ace stared at the little scene.

Alice sniffled as she stared up at Hikari with watery eyes, making the brunette flinch.

"Wh-What's wrong?! Did I do something wrong to upset you? Are you hurt? Did Peter get to huggy on you again? I'm sorry, Alice! Please forgive me!" Hikari frantically apologized as she panicked. She never got slapped by another girl with watery eyes before. Getting slapped by an angry woman? Yes. Getting slapped by a crying young woman? No.

"How could you be worried about me when you're the one who's injured?" Alice shouted loudly as her hands balled up into tight fists.

"Uh… well… I—uh… I don't care if I'm hurt." Hikari began to answer nervously. This was the first time she has dealt with a crying, yet scolding young woman. "I mean, it's not like my wounds are fatal… it's just a tinny tiny little itsy bitsy wound. Eventually, they would heal sooner or later." She said, using her thumb and finger to show how tiny her wounds are.

"I knew it!" Alice exclaimed. Hikari cringed at the sudden outburst. The keyblade wielder was worried that Alice might've seen her using her keyblade while fighting ten minutes ago. She hoped not. "You don't value your life! You're just like everyone here! Thinking that life isn't valuable and that it could be replaced! Well it's not! Life is very valuable! You only got once chance to live! You can't just carelessly throw yourself in a fight like that! You could've gotten killed! You should've been worried about yourself too! You're bleeding all over for goodness' sake!" She scolded with tears in her eyes.

Hikari blinked. She… has never been scolded like that before… In all her life, she never has once been scolded like that. No one, even her brother, never have gotten so mad and emotional whenever she was hurt like this. They just lectured her to be more carefully while fighting and that's just it. The brunette never felt so… cared about before… this was truly a whole new experience for her.

"Alice…" Hikari sighed out with a small smile. She reached out to her pocket and grabbed her handkerchief. She carefully wiped the tears away from Alice's cheek as she smiled brightly. "It's not that I don't value my life… It's just that…I value everyone else's more, my family and friends the most of course. I viewed their life more precious than mine. Life is irreplaceable just like you said and I can't bear seeing my friends and family are hurt." she admitted.

Every word she said was true. It was from the bottom of her heart.

"Oh my sweet little kitten!" Peter quickly ran up to Hikari and gave her a light hug, carefully not squeezing too tight. "That's speech made me so emotional~! Now let get these germs off of you." he smiled as he hissed out the word 'germs'.

"Peter! Get off!" Alice shouted with a blushing face. She was touched by the brunette's words. "Let's head back to the tower." She said.

Gray nodded his head, "Don't worry, Miss Hikari. I'll call a doctor as soon as we arrive at the tower." He said.

"Ah, just Hikari is fine, Gray." Hikari said with a sheepishly smile.

Ace grinned, "Do you need a lift?" He asked.

"N-No… I don't…" Hikari sighed heavily as she swayed back and forth. Her head was beginning to hurt now. Her vision was blurring and spinning around. "I can… perfectly walk…" she continued weakly.

"You don't sound alright…" Gray placed a hand on his chin.

"Hikari? Are you okay?" Alice asked worriedly.

"Yeah…" Hikari breathe out, falling forward. She didn't hit the ground. Instead, she hit something hard, nothing hard as a rock though. She suddenly felt being lifted up. Her dull blue eyes stared to the person in black. The last thing she could see was a dark blue blur and then she blacked out.

"Julius!" Alice cried. "What are you doing here? I thought you were at the tower with Nightmare?" She tilted her head to the side.

Julius didn't answer. He only stared down at the unconscious foreigner in his arms.

"Mortician! Get your germ full of hands off my precious kitten!" Peter pointed his gun at Julius' head.

Julius stayed quiet for a moment before replying. "I suggest you two get back to Hearts Castle. Nighttime will soon come." He simply said.

"What?! I'm not leaving my kitten when she's in this state!" Peter argued.

"Awww… as much as I love camping, I don't wanna leave Hikari just yet~" Ace sang and his eyes turned to darker shade of red as a smirk appeared on his lips.

"Leave. She is in good hands. You can see her in the next time period when we attend the Role-Holders' event at the Circus." Julius said before turning around, heading back towards the tower.

Peter scowled as Ace 'boo'ed, but the two complied.

Alice and Gray exchanged glances before following the Mortician to the tower.

* * *

3=~x~X~x=E

"Agh… my head…" Hikari mumbled as she sat up. Her blue eyes blinked in confusion. Obviously, she wasn't in the forest anymore. The placed she was in is a fairly large room with the regular room furniture. She flinched when she tried to move and found she was covered with white bandages. A brown eyebrow rose up in confusion. She was confused. She was all bandaged up and in an unknown room. "Huh… I wonder who brought me in…" she wondered aloud.

"That would be me." A voice said from beside her bed. The brunette slowly turned her head to her side and saw a man sitting with his arms crossed. His eyes were closed and his look was calm. Julius Monrey is the man's name. Hikari blinked before smiling. Julius kind of reminds her of her friend. "How are you feeling this morning?" he asked.

"Huh what? Morning? Are you sure?" Hikari asked.

Julius nodded his head. "Certain." He pointed his finger to the window. "You've slept through the whole night while the doctor checked on you." he said.

"So I missed Dinner?! Dang it!" Hikari groaned out.

Julius sighed. _This girl is hopeless…She's worrying about food than her wounds… so reckless…_ He rubbed his temples.

Hikari grinned sheepishly at Julius, "So… You're the one who carried me all the way back to the tower?" She asked, just to be certain. The Mortician slowly nodded his head. "Ah… Thanks…" she thanked with a blush.

A guy never carries her… it was always the other way around.

Julius nodded his head. "I'm… sorry." He suddenly apologized.

"For what? I think I'm the one who should apologize… I troubled you a lot and I think I've stained your clothes with my blood… Sorry about that dude…" Hikari scratched the back of her head carefully.

The Mortician shook his head, "No. I accused you for something you didn't do and for that… I apologize." He said, bowing his head slightly.

Hikari blinked before laughing. "Aw! Aw! Aw!" She cried in pain as the laughing hurt her sides. "So that's why I kept on sneezing while I was fighting those rebels! It's was you! Hah! I told my friends that when they're talking about someone, the person would sneeze! Take that everyone! Wohooo! My theory is finally right! Thanks Julius!" She cheered happily, giving Julius a quick hug.

Julius let out a short chuckle. "You surely are weird… You reminded me of a certain Knight…" he concluded.

"Oh ha ha," Hikari laughed dryly placing her hands on her hips. "Very funny, Julius, very funny… Hey… When are we going to the Circus?! I'm excited to go there!" She began to daydream.

"Are you sure you're healthy enough to go there? The doctor says that you need a few time periods of rest." Julius said.

"Pffft~! I'm fine!" Hikari grinned, wiping her nose.

"That's what you said before you passed out." Julius sighed. He stood up, making Hikari look up to him. "The event doesn't start until noon, until then, rest. I'll tell Alice and the others that you're awake." He simple stated.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Hikari asked before Julius left the room.

"Back to work," Julius said and left the room.

Hikari shook her head… Yup… just like her friend alright…

"Bah!" Hikari leaned back against the pillow with a groan. "I'm hungry!"

* * *

3=~x~X~x~=E

"Why do I have to wear a _skirt_?" Hikari whined.

Alice gave a smile, "Because you're a girl." She simply answers. Hikari gave another groan as she dragged her feet to walk. "Hey, at least you're wearing leggings." She said, trying to cheer the brunette up.

Hikari pouted. She was literally forced by Alice to wear… a skirt. She wore a black jacket over a white long sleeved shirt, a black skirt just above her knees, black long leggings, and a pair of white shoes. The brunette kept her chain belts as she didn't want to lose her good luck charm. Although, she did like how the outfit was covering her bandaged wounds.

Alice wore a long bell sleeved black knee length dress with frills and golden rings, a dark blue puffy short sleeved jacket, black long socks, a pair of black shoes, and a black bow with a small heart on it. The dress is one of her usual attire, so it wasn't bothering her much.

Gray let out a sigh. "Please try to be careful around the Joker, Hikari." He said with a monotone voice. "They are very dangerous to be around with." He warned.

"'They'? I thought Joker is one person." Hikari tilted her head to the side confusedly.

"It's hard to explain…" Alice nervously laughed.

"Ah…" Hikari nodded her head. Her ears suddenly heard music playing not far from where they were standing. It was a cheerful tune and an up-beat one too. Curiously, she grabbed Alice's hand and dragged her towards the source of the music. Her blue eyes widened. In front of her, was a huge carnival! There were food stands and game stands everywhere! But the most that attracts her attention was the huge pink and yellow tent at the end of the road. "Flipping Pancake with maple syrup… This is soooo cool!" She squealed happily.

Nightmare chuckled, "Really? I think it's boring." He said.

"Are you kidding?! This is so cool! The last time I've been to a carnival, I was nearly killed!" Hikari cheered happily, jumping in place.

Gray raised an eyebrow, "Killed?" He questions.

"Uh-huh! I almost got ran over by an elephant!" Hikari sighed heavily, rubbing the back of her neck as she remembers the memory. She observed her surroundings. Julius wasn't kidding when all Role-Holders are invited to the event. There were servants from the Hatter's Mansion, the Amusement Park's workers, the maids and guards from the Castle of Hearts, and a few from the Clover Tower. She hasn't seen any Role-Holders yet though. Maybe they were already inside the huge colorful tent. "Oh! Alice! Look! Hot dogs~!" She sang happily.

Alice shook her head with a smile, "I shouldn't have introduced you to hot dogs…" she regretted. "It's like you're addicted to those." she continued.

Hikari bought five hot dogs with the allowance money Nightmare gave her. "One for you, one for you, one for you, and one for me~!" Hikari handed the hot dogs to the three Role-Holders and Alice.

Julius shakes his head, "I don't eat these kind of food." He bluntly said, handing the hot dog back to Hikari.

"Eh… Too bad…" Hikari said with a mouthful of her hot dog. "Here you go, kid." She handed the extra hot dog to a Faceless little girl, who gladly took the hot dog from her with a bright smile. "It's really good, Julius… At first I thought it was a real dog…" she shuddered.

Gray let out a small chuckle. "Ah… You're too naïve…" he said.

"Hey… what's that supposed to mean?" Hikari placed both of her hands on her hip as she finishes her hot dog.

"Nothing," Gray said as he also finishes his hot dog. "Lord Nightmare, please drink your medicine after eating." He said, making Nightmare cringed.

"My kitten~" A voice sang happily, it was clearly Peter White. He threw himself to Hikari, wrapping his arms around the small brunette. He was carefully not to hug her too hard, since she was injured. "How are you feeling my dear kitten?" he asked.

"Better than ever! Thanks for asking Peter!" Hikari answered with a thumb up. She glanced around confusedly. "Where's Ace and Queen Vivaldi?" she asked.

Peter scowled. "Don't worry about the stupid Knight and the old hag, my kitten~" he patted Hikari's head lightly, snuggling closely.

"Peter…" Alice growled, her fist shaking in anger and a visible vein popped on her forehead. "Hands off!" she shouted, punching Peter on his cheek.

Hikari gave a whistle, "Wow~ that's gotta hurt!" she made an 'ouch' look. "You okay there, Peter?" She asked, helping the man up with a nervous smile.

"Don't help him, Hikari! He's a perv!" Alice huffed, crossing her arms over her chest with a pout.

"Oh, we knew that the entire ruckus was caused by you, White." A Queen with dark purple hair said from behind as a Faceless guard was holding an umbrella for her. Vivaldi fanned herself with a black laced fan. She smiled kindly at Alice and Hikari. Her smile was soon replaced by a frown. "We would like to know what happened to Hikari." she demanded.

"Ah… you see… uh… Long short story…" Hikari tried to come up with a lie, but failed.

"Alice and Hikari were attacked by a group of Faceless rebels." Julius stated cooly.

"Julius!"Alice and Hikari hissed out in unison.

"What! We shall behead them! Off with their heads!" Vivaldi ordered.

"Thanks a lot Julius!" Hikari hissed to the Mortician and he replied with a simple shrug. "Queen Vivaldi! You don't have to worry!" She waved her hands in front of her, trying to calm the angered Queen down. She placed on a sheepish grin. "I've already taken care of them and I think they won't be bothering us for awhile." She said.

"We see… Well, shall we go inside?" Vivaldi suggested, walking towards the tent. Alice and Hikari nodded. The other Role-Holders followed the three girls from behind. Peter was trying his best not to glomp Alice and Hikari, because Alice kept on flashing him a glare every second. Hikari only laughed nervously as Vivaldi chuckled.

The brunette stared at the Queen of Heart. The Queen was just so elegant, so beautiful, and she's staring at something? Hikari quickly turn her head towards the direction of what Vivaldi was staring at. It was a cute little plush dolphin doll. The stand owner kept on yelling 'win a toy by knocking six bottles'. The keyblade wielder shrugged.

"I'll give a try," Hikari raised her hand happily as she ran towards the stand. The stand owner nodded and she handed him a few coins before he gave her three balls. "So I just have to knock those bottles in three tries, right?" she asked.

"Correct!" The owner nodded his head.

"What are you doing?" Alice asked as she stood beside the brunette.

"Winning a doll~" Hikari sang as she closed one eye to focus her aim. She stink her tongue out and drew her arm back as far as she can. She quickly threw the ball straight to the bottles, but missed. "Duck!" she and Alice quickly ducks down.

"Ah~ my kitt—," the ball hit Peter right on his forehead.

"Whoops! Sorry Peter!" Hikari shouted as Alice and Vivaldi giggled. The brunette turned back to the bottles. "Okay bottles… just you, me, and this ball! She drew her arm back, she swings, and she throws!" she threw the ball once more and hit the middle of the stack, making the bottles tumbled down. "YES! And victory is mine! The crowds are going wild~!" she laughed happily and began to scream like a crowd would do.

"Very good~!" The owner clapped his hands. "Which prize would you like?" he asked.

"That one please!" Hikari pointed her finger to the doll Vivaldi wanted. She excitedly accepted the doll from the stand owner and turn to Vivaldi with a huge grin. The Queen of Hearts stared at the dolphin for a moment with a confused look. "Here you go, Queen Vivaldi! It's for you! I hope you like it~!" she handed the toy to the Queen.

"But we didn't ask for you to get this for us." Vivaldi tilted her head.

"I know… But you seemed like you wanted it…" Hikari sheepishly said.

Alice giggled. "Awww… You're so kind, Hikari, and good at throwing balls at Peter!" She smiled.

"Thank you…" Vivaldi finally accepts the doll with a blush across her cheek. "Come! Let us sit together!" she dragged the two foreigners into the tent.

"Wa—wait up! I wanna buy another hot dog~!" Hikari whines as she got dragged inside the giant tent by Alice and Vivaldi.

Julius shook his head as Nightmare, Gray, and Peter followed the girls.

"Troublesome girl…" Julius murmured.

* * *

3=~x~X~x=E

"New Onee-chan!" The Bloody Twins cried happily, throwing themselves to the brunette.

"Hey there, you brats!" Hikari grinned as she placed her hands on each of their heads.

Dee tilted his head, blue eyes blinking in confusion. "What happened to New Onee-chan? You got more bandages than before we last saw you…" He asked.

"We got jumped by a group of rebels, which reminds me…" Alice said and cracked her knuckles. She glared at the twins, raising her fist at them both. "Now get off of her! She's still injured!" she scolded.

"Sorry New Onee-chan! We didn't know." Dee and Dum cried in unison.

"It's fine, you Brats." Hikari said, smiling. "How about we take a seat?" she suggested.

"Okay~!" The twins sang happily.

"Alice," Blood called out with Elliot right behind him. The chestnut-haired girl turned around on her heels and saw the Mafia Boss was right behind her. A faint blush was seen across her cheeks. "Shall we get seated?" he asked, smiling a little.

"A-Ah… Yes," Alice answered.

"No, they shall seat by us and not you." Vivaldi hook an arm on Alice's arm and dragged her away. She did the same to Hikari who was waiting for the Bloody Twins and the Cheshire Cat to stop arguing. The Queen of Hearts dragged the two foreigners to the front seats. She sat beside Alice, smiling proudly as she fanned herself with her red fan. The other male Role-Holders glared daggers at the Queen, but she chooses to ignore the idiots. The dolphin plushy was seated on her lap. "We thanked you once more for the gift, Hikari." Vivaldi said with her eyes closed.

"No problem Queen Vivaldi, anything for a friend." Hikari said as the lights flickered off. Everyone turned their attention to the center as the lights dances around the tent.

"Ladies and gentlemen from all ages, I welcome you all to my Circus!" A disembodied voice greeted friendlily and loudly. Hikari glanced around for the source, excited and a bit weary at the same time. "Now as you all know, I presented this show to the new foreigner!" the voice continued.

A light was shined down to the brunette, who covered her eyes instantly. "Gah! Too bright!" She whispered to herself and she felt a hand was placed on her shoulder. She turned around and saw a man. The man had his left eye covered with a black eye patch. He wore a silly dark grey hat with the same matching outfit. There's also a white porcelain mask over three roses on his left hip. The brunette had to glance up to the tall man with a surprised look. "Huh? Wait! What did you just say?!" she exclaimed.

"Ah~ just relax and enjoy the show, my dear." The Ringmaster said with a bow. He disappeared in a cloud of smoke and appeared in the center of the ring. The light switched off from the brunette and turned back on to the red headed Ringmaster. "Now, ladies and gentlemen enjoy the show!" he cheered and the crowd clapped slowly.

Hikari was the only one cheering loudly. She quickly sat back down with nervously. Her blue eyes watched as the animals and their trainers came out. An elephant let out a loud trumpet noise from its trunk. It was weird seeing the animals were also eyeless. The excited keyblade wielder clapped her hands loudly as the elephant stood on two of its feet, on a ball. The red headed Ringmaster was standing on the elephant's trunk, juggling many balls in his hands. He had on a charming smile while doing his act.

"Wow! He's good!" Hikari said to Vivaldi before glancing back to the watch the show. She couldn't even juggle two balls! Let alone three!

The Ringmaster jumped down to the ground as confetti was flying everywhere. The elephant blow his trunk loudly again as a few performers began to stand on the balls with either their hands or legs, smiling happily. Acrobats began to play their role and then soon came the most horrifying thing the brunette has ever seen. Clowns!

'_Ugh… They're mocking me with those thick make-ups and those big red noses…Little creeps. I can still remember the clown nurse a few months ago… ugh! The horror!'_ Hikari shuddered as her face turned into a sour look.

Nightmare chuckled at Hikari's thoughts. She was excited a minute ago before she seen the clowns and now her mood was back to a sour one. He began to read every Role-Holders' mind. They were still the same. Alice still respects the Joker, Peter was thinking of Alice and Hikari, Vivaldi thought about the plush toy, Ace… well he thought of something, the Bloody Twins thought about injuring another acrobat, Blood and Elliot kept a string-full of curses at the Joker, Gowland thought about a competition between his Amusement Park and the Circus, Boris thought the same thing as the twins, and Pierce… oh the poor boy was scared out of his tail. The sick dream demon didn't dared to read Julius' and Gray's minds, since they were giving him glares.

"Hey, Hikari…" Alice cupped her mouth and whispered. "What do you think of the show so far?" She asked.

Hikari cupped her mouth. "I think it's fantastic… Until those clowns show up…" She mumbled the last part.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Please pay your attention to the performer on the tightrope~!" The Ringmaster exclaimed, moving his arms up in the air, glancing above him.

Hikari raised an eyebrow. It was a Faceless woman. The woman was nervous, she could tell it clearly from her expression even without eyes. The jester woman was trembling as she steps one foot on the tightrope. Hikari wasn't amused as the crowd goes 'oh' and 'ah'. Clearly, something was wrong. A performer wouldn't act so nervous, even if it was their first time. The brunette kept on a keen eye on the woman as she scowled at the clowns inside the ring.

'_Cih… Clowns…'_ Hikari glared daggers at the clowns before turning her attention back to the woman on the tightrope. The woman was already half across the tightrope when it began to shake roughly. The brunette observed the scene as the crowd goes 'oh!' in a more awed and surprised way. They probably thought it was an act since this was a show. _'That lady's going to fall…' _she thought negatively.

"Psst! Hikari?" Alice whispered. The brunette turned to her with a frown. "I think this isn't part of the show…" she concluded, looking worriedly at the woman on the tightrope.

"Yeah," Hikari shortly answered. It would be better if there was a net bellow her! But no! There wasn't any net! If that woman falls, she would be as flat as a pancake! The keyblade wielder isn't going to let anyone die when she was around. She made a promise and even kept a word of honor. "Does the Ringmaster know about this?" she whispered.

Alice shook her head, "It seems like White doesn't know anything about this…" she said.

"Ooooohhhh!"

Alice and Hikari turned their heads towards the woman and saw she was wobbling on the tightrope. The crowd screamed in horror as the woman falls backwards. The keyblade wielder quickly rose up to her feet and sprinted towards the area on where the tightrope is, zooming pass by the Ringmaster. She jumped and reached her arms out. Luckily, the brunette caught the woman performer on time. The performer landed in her arms before she began to somersault across the large ring. She released her grip on the performer as she continued to somersault around, hitting her head on the wall of the ring.

"Hikari!" Alice quickly ran towards the brunette with worried eyes. "Are you okay?" she asked.

The brunette groaned, moving her legs to her front as she was lying upside down. "Yeah… I'm cool…" She replied and glanced over to the performer. "Hey lady… You okay? You seem to be shaken up a little bit. Are you afraid of heights?" She carefully asked.

"N-No. Of course not…" The performer said before flinching.

"You sprained your ankle?" Alice asked, tilting her head to the side. "Why didn't you tell White that you were injured? He'll surely understand that his performer is injured…" she said.

"It seems that we have a bit of an accident. I am truly sorry, but I must end this performance for the day… My performers will escort all of you out." The Ringmaster exclaimed, the crowd seems to understand the situation as they just left the tent with worried looks. The Role-Holders were shoved out of the tent by his workers. The Ringmaster sighed heavily before turning around to face the three girls on the ground, one faceless and two foreigners. A smirk appeared on his lips as he approached the girls. He never expected a foreigner would just jump to rescue his performer. He was amused. At first, he wants to know what she would react when a performer dies in a performance. Interesting indeed.

"Ah… Thank you for your concern about my workers, Alice dear." The Ringmaster thanked, bowing. He turned to Hikari with a smile as he crouched down to her level. "And you… I must thank you for saving one of my workers. How will I ever repay you?" He smiled warmly.

"Oh… It's no biggie," Hikari replied as she blushed in embarrassment. She scratched the back of her head with a sheepish grin as the Ringmaster chuckles. "Unless~" She began, smiling mischievously.

Alice smacked the back of Hikari's head. "No! You're not asking for a lifetime supply of hot dogs!" She yelled.

"Aw! How did you know?! Are you Nightmare in disguised?!" Hikari cried, glaring at Alice. The chestnut-haired girl huffed before placing her hands on her hips. The two girls heard the Ringmaster chuckled lightly. He seemed like a nice man. "By the way, Mr. Ringmaster? Your show is amazing~" Hikari sang.

"Why, thank you," The Ringmaster said. "I am Joker, please to meet you." he reached his hand out.

"So you're the famous Joker I've been hearing about," Hikari grinned as Joker helped her up to her feet. The red-headed Ringmaster helped Alice up before snapping his fingers to some clowns to take the injured performer away. "I can see why they talked about you a lot, Joker!" she smiled.

Joker chuckled. "Really?"

"Hikari! Your cheek!" Alice exclaimed worriedly. Hikari turn to her with a questioning look. "It's bleeding! You must've reopened it when you took that fall…" she grabbed a handkerchief and dabbed Hikari's cheek lightly.

"Thanks Alice…" Hikari thanked, placing the handkerchief on her cheek.

A smirk appeared on Joker's lips. He has heard about the issue in Wonderland that after a few time periods, a foreigner hasn't drunk the Medicine of Hearts yet. It was spreading like wildfire. "My dear, do you still have the Medicine of Hearts with you?" He asked.

"Uh yeah… Here," Hikari said, handing the vial to the Ringmaster. "Why?"

Joker placed his hands on Alice's shoulders, keeping a firm grip. "It'll help you heal your wounds." He said.

"Oh yeah! So that's why it's called the Medicine of Hearts! It's actually a medicine! Psssh! Why didn't I think of that? Thanks for getting to the point, Joker!" Hikari happily grinned, taking the heart-shaped lid off.

A hand covers Alice's mouth as Hikari tipped the vial to drink the liquid. Hikari's nose scrunched up in disgust at the distasteful liquid. She wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her jacket as she turned to Joker and Alice with a sour look on her face.

"That tastes awful!" Hikari cried, sticking her tongue out as she gripped on the vial tightly. "I rather have hot dog instead!" she cried.

Alice slapped Joker's hand away. "H-Hikari… Now that you've drank the Medicine of Hearts… You'll have to compete in the game!" She exclaimed with a worried look.

"What game?" The brunette asked confusedly, still trying to get rid of the bitter taste in her tongue.

"The Game of Hearts of course." Joker answered.

"Wow… a very _creative_ name…" Hikari said sarcastically. "What about the rules? Don't you have to explain in to me?" she asked, sighing.

Joker smiled, "Of course. There's only one rule…" he began as Alice gave a sad smile to Hikari, who in return raised an eyebrow confusedly.

"Everyone will fall in love with you."

* * *

**A/N: Ah so the Joker (White) was the one who convinced Hikari to drink the Medicine of Hearts… Who would've guessed XD?**

**Don't worry in a few chapters, Hikari is going to be a 'normal' girl without her magic and keyblade ^^**

**Anyway, I've checked for the name of the game that Alice has to participate it and it's only called 'the game'. So I thought why not change it to 'the Game of Hearts', instead? And also, I don't know about the rules, but I've read the 'everyone will fall in love with you' in the manga version.**

***Alice's dress is from Clover no Kuni no Alice: Heart no Kishi (manga)**

**Special thanks to: LuNaLoVeComiCs, Sleeping Moon, and lollipoploveforever for adding this story to their favs!**

**Special thanks to: LuNaLoVeComiCs and Sleeping Moon for adding this story to their alerts!**

**Reviews are very appreciated, and please no flames please ^^**

**R&R!**


	5. Mission 5: Double Trouble

**A/N: A new chapter! Took me forever to write because of school…**

**Special thanks to xXxSebastian-MichaelisxXx for adding this story to her Community! :D**

Guest 2: **Thank you ^^**

Bluedancingkittykat: **Thanks :D**

BrazilianAna: **Of course! I'll be happy to answer all of your questions ^^. 1) Hikari is a year younger than Sora. 2) Nope. She's just Sora's little sister. 3) she's seventeen. And 4) I don't actually know… **

Guest 1: **Sure thing! Thanks ^^**

Forest-Animal: **I wonder too! Let's see what will happen in this chap ^^**

Slashingfruit101: **Thank you so much!**

Alice-in-Wonderland-fan888: **Thank you so much :D**

Sleeping Moon:** Thank you! X3**

**Hikari © me**

**Mentions of KH's characters and places © Square Enix**

**Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice © Quinrose**

* * *

3=~x~X~x~=E

Mission 5  
Double Trouble

3=~x~X~x~=E

* * *

"_Everyone will fall in love with you."_

Joker—or more precisely White—let a smirk curled up to his lips. The new foreigner was quiet, probably too shock to even speak. From the corner of his crimson eye, he saw Alice giving him a glare. He didn't drop the smirk. Instead, his smirk widened a little. Everybody says that he's the sanest between himself and his other half, but truly, they both are the same insane Joker. Of course, White intended to hide that insane side with his polite and modest side. Even though, every Role-Holder in Wonderland knows, the Joker managed to fool Alice.

After all, they are called the Joker.

"Pfffft." White Joker switched his gaze back from Alice to the shocked brunette. His crimson eye saw that the new foreigner was shaking like an eyeless Chihuahua. Her hands were balled up into tight fists as it shook either with excitement, anger, shock, or even fear. The empty vial was clutched tightly on her right hand. A small cracking nose filled his ears. She was about to break the vial… Her bright blue eyes refused to stare up at the Jester. They were staring down at her black shoes. The sound she made was between a hiss and a whimper. White's smirked a little bit more if possible. Ah~ music to his ears.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

White blinked a few times. What? This new foreigner was… laughing? The smirk he had on disappeared instantly. The foreigner wasn't supposed to laugh after he told the rule! She was supposed to be surprised! Shock! Or cry! Laughing wasn't the option he had in mind. The last few foreigners expressed shock in their faces and even one cried, but never has he met a foreigner who laughed after hearing a rule like that. Even Alice didn't laugh when Julius told her the rule. Something was defiantly wrong with this little foreigner. Interesting~

"Hi-Hikari?" Alice began nervously. "What's wrong?"

"Hahahahaha! Oh gosh! Hahahahaha! That's so hilarious!" Hikari kept on laughing as she clutched her sides. Her laugh echoed throughout the whole tent. Tears of laughter were at the corner of her eyes as she continued on laughing. She could feel the stares coming from 'Joker' and Alice, but she didn't care. It was too funny not to laugh at! "Fall in _love_? With _me_? Get real! I think I've never laugh this hard and long before~" She said before laughing once more.

"Man, Joker~" Hikari placed a hand on White Joker's shoulder for support as she laughs. The red headed Jester simple tilted his head a little to the side in an innocent manner. "You're one funny guy! No wonder you're named Joker… Because you're a real joker! Hahahaha! Get it?!" The brunette slapped White's back, hard.

Alice and Joker didn't laugh. Hikari did have a bad sense of humor when it comes to jokes…

The red haired Jester was caught off guard. He never expected the little weak foreigner to slap his back with such inner strength. The Jester decided to play along. He falls forward to the ground with a loud thud. He shifted to a sitting position, rubbing the spot where the foreigner has hit him. He tried his best not to show his pain, hiding it all in a small frown. The red-haired Jester winced, knowing it was going to bruise later on. But he had to admit though… he loves it when girls hit him, especially when it stings~

"W-White! Are you alright?" Alice asked nervously.

"Don't worry Alice. It doesn't really hurt." White said as he smiled warmly at the former foreigner.

"Whoops… Did I really hit you that hard?" Hikari asked as she stopped laughing after seeing White on the ground. The brunette sighed heavily. A hand reached up to scratch the back of her head as a small blush of embarrassment brushed across her cheeks. She really needs to stop slapping people on their backs when she's laughing. She never could control her strength when she was angry, pissed, or even happy. The brunette slightly crouched down with an apologetic look. She slipped the vial into her pocket before helping White Joker up. "I'm so sorry Joker… I didn't mean to hit you that hard… I guess I just don't know my own strength." She apologized, reaching her hand out to help the Jester.

"You may call me White, my dear," White smiled as he took Hikari's hand. His red eye saw the childish yet warm small on her lips as she was about to pull him up back to his own feet. Something about her smile was making his clock ticked faster. He shook the odd feeling away. Maybe it was just the stinging pain on his back. A twisted smile appeared on his lips, but the new foreigner didn't notice it because she was smiling with her eyes closed. Yeah, the pleasurable stinging feeling~ "And it doesn't hurt a single thing—," he was cut off.

"_**Are you fu***** kidding me?! That hurt like hell, b****!" **_A voice strongly disapproved with an angry tone.

Hikari blinked a few times, confused. She didn't pull White up just yet. Her blue eyes gleamed in curiosity. There weren't anyone else in the tent except for Alice, White, and herself. She rewinds the foul sentence into her mind, trying to figure out which one of the Role-Holders just insulted her. The voice was similar to White's gentle voice, but it was more aggressive and foul than White's gentle and polite voice.

"White? Did you just—did _you_ just insult me?" Hikari asked, raising her voice.

"No, my dear, I would never—_**but I would**_." White concluded. The keyblade wielder simply stared at White for a few seconds before she grabbed his collar aggressively, pulling the jester closer. Alice gasped as she covers her mouth. They were so close! Their noses were almost touching each other. Hikari had on a murderous look as White had an innocent look on his face. The chestnut-haired girl knew that White wouldn't possible say those foul words. Only one Role-Holder would say such foul things and that Role-Holder is his counterpart, Black Joker. "My dear, I would never call you a—_**b******_." White was cut off yet again.

"I _dare_ you to repeat yourself again, White." Hikari hissed out, her left eyebrow twitching in anger.

"But my dear—_**you want me to repeat myself, b****? Fine, b****.**_" White's mouth stopped moving after he said 'dear'.

Hikari raised an eyebrow, "White… did you just insult me yet again with that—that technique when people do on a show with a puppet—," she was cut off.

"_**It's called ventriloquism, Idiot. And it's a no."**_ This time, Hikari made sure to keep her eyes locked on White's mouth. His mouth didn't move a single bit. She kept on her gaze on White's lips, hoping to catch him insulting her again. For one, she really wanted to punch him for insulting her. To think that he was such a nice guy a few minutes ago. _**"Down here, stupid."**_

Hikari glanced down to White's belt. A white porcelain mask… the porcelain mask was talking… it was talking. The brunette hung her mouth open as she stared at the white mask.

"Your mask just _talked_!" Hikari stared closely at the mask.

"_**You got a problem with that, you b****?"**_ The mask asked grumpily.

"What did you just say?!" Hikari snapped as her eyebrows were furrowed down at the porcelain mask.

"Joker! Stop insulting her!" White scolded.

"_**Shut your potholes Joker! I can insult the stupid ignorant b**** anytime I want!"**_ The mask snapped back.

Hikari stared confusedly at the bickering between a Jester and a porcelain mask. White just called the mask 'Joker' and the mask just called White 'Joker'. Which one was the real Joker? The Jester started an argument with the mask to change his name to another. A man was arguing with an inanimate object—which is a surprise that it can apparently talk. To make things worse, it's a potty mouth too!

"Ah, Hikari… You see… the thing is… there are two Jokers." Alice tried to explain. The keyblade wielder turned her attention from the bickering jester and his mask to Alice, who had on a nervous smile. "I'm not joking… I'm serious. The one you see here is called White and the mask is called Black, unfortunately Black isn't an actual porcelain mask. He's at another realm, in the Prison Realm to be exact." The chestnut-haired girl explained shortly.

Hikari gave a confused look. "You mean the rude-mouthed-mask is _real_? And he isn't a giant-walking-talking-rude-mouthed-white-porcelain -mask?" she asked, remembering the Magic Mirror from Dwarf Woodlands*. Alice gave a nervous laugh as she nodded, placing a hand on Hikari's shoulder. The brunette's mouth was hung open as her shoulders slumped down in shock. "You gotta be kidding me… if he's a foul-mouthed when he's a mask then I don't want to meet the real foul-mouthed man! Uh-oh! No way! You can't make me!" she pouted childishly.

Alice let out a giggle. "Black's not that bad when you get used to his foul language, Hikari. Trust me. After being somewhat friends with him for the past two years… you'll get used to it…" she gave a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"You're friends with… that?" Hikari asked in disbelief, pointing her finger at the porcelain mask. "I don't even know how you even put up with the Hatters… Tell me how you survive with these guys without stressing out?!" She demanded childishly.

The chestnut-haired girl let out another giggle. "Like I said, you'll get used to it." she said.

"_**Oi, you stupid b****** done giggling yet?"**_ The porcelain mask or Black Joker asked in an irritated tone.

Hikari's left eyebrow twitched as he lips turned to force smile. "I'm really getting sick of that foul language you're using there, Black." She hissed out, crouching to the mask's level on White's hip. She reached her hand out, positioning her fingers in a flicking pose. "You know… I bet you're the 'all talk and no action' kind of guy." she flicked the mask.

"_**Ouch! Hey you dumb b****! I'll show you action!"**_ The mask argued. It stopped talking for a few seconds as White and Alice let out deep sighs. Hikari stood back up with a proud smirk, her arms crossed over her chest. The mask stayed quiet, it didn't curse for the past ten seconds. It was a whole new record since that mask was always cursing in every second. The brunette sighed as she placed one hand on her hip and the other on her forehead. All that cussing was making her head dizzy. She let out a deep sigh and let her guard down for a split second. The brunette felt presence from behind. She didn't have the time to spin around when the person grabbed her wrists and held it tightly in his large hands. "Who's all talk and no action now, you b****?" the man ask with an evil cackle.

"Black!" Alice exclaimed with a frantic look.

'Black' as Alice dubbed the man was smirking down at Hikari. Curse these Role-Holders who are apparently taller than her! Black was the exact spitting image of White, except Black wore a whole different outfit. He had on a black warden's suit complete with the porcelain mask with many keys dangling on his left hip and a horse whip in his hand. Blue eyes were met with a single crimson eye. The brunette was staring straight in Black's eye with a straight expression. Black was doing the same, except with a mischievous glint in his eye. A mischievous grin also came up to his lips, matching the look in his eye.

"You know what, b****? You're kind of cute." Black said with a smirk, still keeping a firm grip on Hikari's wrists.

A visible vein popped on Hikari's forehead. "Oh, yeah?! I'm not cute! I can sooooo hit you on the spot! I promise you, it'll be ten times worse than the slap!" she shouted at the Warden. She turned to White and gave a small smile. "Don't worry White, I'll go easy on your twin, but no promises." she grinned.

White chuckled, "My dear, I'm not his twin. He is my dear counterpart. You see, we're both the same, but with split personalities placed into two bodies."He explained.

Black growled. "Ceh! And it was a compliment you dumb*ss! Don't make promises you can't fulfill, b****." He spat.

"You wanna bet on it, Stupid Warden?" Hikari growled, glaring daggers at the tall red-haired man.

"Stupid Warden? Is that the best you can come up with, b****?" Black smirked, leaning forward.

Hikari gave a proud mischievous grin. "Nope! I can call you butthead, dumb-butt, lazy bum, foul Warden, Stupid Mask, and many more, you Stupid Warden." She said with a calm look.

"And I can call you many more too you bi—," Black's mouth was covered by a hand—White's hand to be exact. The Warden glared daggers at the Jester as he muffled something into the hand covering his mouth. White let out a heavy sigh and placed on a smile as he smiled down at Hikari. The brunette's neck was getting tired of looking up…He was right in front of her, standing proud and tall in his full height.

"I apologize for Black's foul language, my dear." White bowed his head a little.

Hikari huffed. "Apology accepted if this Stupid Warden lets go of my wrist!" she demanded, kicking Black on his shin with the heel of her boot. The Warden flinched and released his firm grip on her wrist. The brunette quickly ran away from the two Jokers to Alice's side, hiding behind her as she glared daggers at Black. "Thank you… Stupid Warden." She muttered.

"Cih," Black clicked his tongue as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Whatever you dumb b****." He insulted.

"Out of my way, Germ!" A familiar voice yelled out, followed by a complaint from one of the performer standing outside the tent. The Jokers, Alice, and Hikari turned their attention towards the tent flap of the entrance. A man with long rabbit ears with a frantic look pushed through the wave of jesters to get inside the tent. His crimson eyes spotted the two foreigners and he changed his sour face to a happy face. "Alice~! Hikari~! My lovely little foreigners! You two are alright~" Peter White sung happily, knocking over some jesters.

Alice rubbed her temples in annoyance as Hikari stared at Peter with an awed look. The man lunged at the two girls. Quickly, Alice steps aside pulling Hikari with her. "Peter… what the heck do you think you're doing?! I told you before, no lunging and no hugging!" she scolded.

"But my dear ex!" Peter whines. "I was worried sick about my precious foreigners! Who knows what these foul men would do to my kittens!" he stood up, glaring at the Jokers.

White simple gave a smile to the Prime Minister. "Peter~! What a pleasant surprise! Did you enjoy my show?" he kindly asked.

Peter clicked his tongue, reaching for his pocket watch. "Cih, I think it's boring as usual." He spat, pointing his pocket-watch-gun directly at White's head. "I believe that one of your performers was faking the whole 'accident'. Admit it, you just want my precious kitten." He concluded darkly.

White hid the smirk he has as he lowered his head for a few seconds. "My, I would never do such a thing Peter! Although… I am very tempted to kidnap one of them from under your nose, Mr. Prime Minister~!" He sung happily with a smile.

"Ceh, I especially want that one." Black narrowed his whip to Hikari's direction. The brunette only raised an eyebrow in confusion. A smirk appeared on Black's lips as he saw the cluelessness in the brunette's eyes and the feared look in Alice's eyes. "I want to hear her screams and begs for me to stop torturing her." he said.

"Prrrrhhh! Sorry dude, I don't do screaming and begging for mercy, especially from _you_." Hikari said as she crossed her arms with a pout. "If any of that happens, it'll be the end of the world~!" she screamed frantically and laughed soon after.

Alice gulped, "Uh… Hikari? I think you should stop daring Black… you're making him more tempted." She quietly whispers.

"Psssh! Bring it on!" Hikari grinned with a proud look. She was trained by the best and they never go easy on her, even when she's injured, they didn't go soft on her a single bit. It was tiring and annoying at first, but she soon realizes that it was for her best. An enemy wouldn't go soft if you're injured or a girl, they'll knock the senses out of you in a split second! "C'mon Black~! I dare you to do your best! I can so take you on right now!" she challenged.

"Ah~ I like it when girls get brave and feisty," White exclaimed to his counterpart with a happy sickly smile. "Don't be too hard on her Black… I also want to have some fun~" he whispered as he walked pass by the Warden.

But someone seemed to overhear the whisper…

Peter's glare darkened. He pulled the trigger and the bullet went pass through between the two Jokers' head, nearly hitting White's head. Luckily, White leaned back an inch and the bullet didn't went through his head. It only cuts a few small strands from his red hair. White and Black stared at Peter with a straight face while Alice and Hikari gave a surprised look.

"What did you say about my sweet darling, you Jester?" Peter's tongue clicked in anger as he narrowed his gun to the Jokers yet again. "The first bullet was a warning, the next one will went right through your skull." He threatened.

"P-Peter!" Alice cried, pulling back the Prime Minister from killing the Jokers.

"Hey, Peter! You don't have to defend me!" Hikari placed a hand over Peter's gun, pushing it down. Peter gave her a confused look, tilting his head slightly to the side. The brunette gave out a small sigh, as she scratched the back of her head. "I was the one who challenged Black, not you. So there before, I shall be the one who will slay thy foulmouthed Stupid Warden~!" she sung with a knightly pose.

A vein popped on Alice's forehead. She raised her fist and smacked it against Hikari's head, making her cried in pain. "No one's fighting because I'm not allowing it! You! You're still injured and you're going to pick up another fight?! Let your body rest for awhile!" She scolded the pouting brunette. "And you! Stop being such a foulmouthed Warden! You're being a bad influence to Hikari!" she scolded the frowning Warden.

"I can be as foulmouthed as I want, woman." Black crossed his arms.

"And I can fight anyone I want, Alice." Hikari huffed, pouting childishly.

Peter withdrew his gun, turning it back to his rather large pocket watch. "Oh dear… I believe being here will make my sweet kitten more tainted in their filthy disgusting germs." He said with a small sigh. "Come, my sweet foreigners~ we shall leave this place at once!" he exclaimed grabbing Alice's and Hikari's hand.

"Peter!" Alice shouted his name in a complain tone.

Hikari sighed and glanced back at the Jokers. "Bye White! I'm looking forward for the next show!" She waved goodbye to the polite Joker. "You too Black! Even though you just made it to my hate list, I'm still looking forward to do some sparring with you!" she shouted before exiting the tent.

The Prime Minister and the two foreigners were no longer seen, leaving the Jokers alone.

"Ah~ so the rumors are true… She really did put others before her~ what interesting characters Hikari has…" White said with a smile, breaking the silence between him and Black. "Don't you think so, Joker?" he asked.

Black crossed his arms as his mouth turn to a scowl. "Cih, the previous one was much hotter than that stupid b****." He murmured, staring at the empty bleachers. "But I have to agree with you, that b**** is interesting." he smirked.

White let out a light chuckle. "My, my, Black… I agree, but what makes you think you can compare her to the previous foreigner? She was much too boring for our taste." He said with a smile.

"Like I said you f****** Joker… The last one was hot, but she's too clingy to that f****** d*mned Hatter." Black simply stated with a bored look.

White hums. "Ah yes… she was fun while she was participating the game." He gave a loud and heavy sigh, picking up a random doll from the ground. The dolls were scattered everywhere when it comes to the Circus. The customers could even find a doll in their seats. "But I'm excited to see what dear Hikari would do in the game~" he sung, pressing the doll with short brown hair and blue buttons for the eyes close to his chest.

Black stared at his counterpart. "F****** Joker…"

* * *

3=~x~X~x~=E

"New Onee-chan! New Onee-chan!"Dee and Dum cried as they buried their faces in Hikari's jacket, hugging her tightly around her waist. The brunette was quickly tackled by the Bloody Twins as soon as Peter dragged her out from the colorful tent. In one hand, she was grateful that Peter dragged her out, but on the other hand she was sad to leave White. The Jester was really nice to her and she really wants to watch the show till the end. Too bad it has to be canceled. "Is New Onee-chan alright? What did the mean old Jokers do to New Onee-chan? The stupid jesters won't let us in!" they both asked worriedly in a complete unison.

Hikari placed a happy grin as she patted the Bloody Twins' head. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Thanks for asking, brats." She said with a soft smile. The Bloody Twins can be annoying and huggy, but they both can be sweet. After all, they are just kids. "Oh and brats? Look what I got here~!" she grabbed the empty vial from her pocket, showing it to the twins.

Peter gasped. "My dear~ you've finally drank the Medicine of Hearts!" The Prime Minister embraced Hikari in a tight hug. A small sigh escape his lips. The brunette stared at him confusedly. He was sighing sadly when she finally drank the liquid he always wanted her to drink. She tilted her head, why is Peter White so sad? "It's such a shame that I could not make you drink it…" He sighed.

Alice quickly punched the White Rabbit. "You PERV! Hands off of Hikari!" she screamed, shaking her fist in anger as she glared daggers at Peter.

Hikari laughed nervously. Alice really loves to punch Peter…

Dee and Dum shook their heads, getting back from their thoughts. "New Onee-chan drank the Medicine of Hearts?!" they both exclaimed with a surprised look.

Hikari nodded happily, "Yup! Joke—I mean _White_ told me that this will heal my wounds and of course, he told me that the game will begin." She said, playing with the small vial by tossing it up and down. The twins released their hug and stared up at the taller brunette. There wasn't a single worry expressed by her. The brunette was just grinning goofily while playing with the vial. "It doesn't actually heal my wounds—which is a rip off—and he just told me that the rule is everyone will fall in love with me! Hah! That was hilarious!" She laughed.

Alice giggled nervously, "Uh… Hikari? The rule is no joke… everyone here in Wonderland will fall in love with you." She said.

"Ha?" Hikari's laughter dies down as she blinked rapidly at the chestnut-haired young woman. Did she just say that the rule is true? It can't possibly be true. That was the most bogus rule she has ever heard! Nobody ever loves her after meeting for less than a full twenty-four hour. In fact, they judge her first without even knowing her personality! The brunette kept on a surprise and confused look on her face. She turned to face the Mortician, who kept on an emotionless face. "Julius! Is that true? Is what Alice said true?!" She demanded.

The long-haired man gave out a sigh. "Unfortunately, that is true." He said.

"Hah! I never thought you'll be in with this prank too, Julius!" Hikari laughed again as she clutched her sides. "First White, then Alice, and now you! Really, I never expected you to be the prankster type. I imagine you to be the hard-working, workaholic type." She wiped the tears away with a smile.

Julius flashed Hikari a deep glare.

The brunette stopped laughing and a sigh escaped her lips. "But… even if the rule is true… that love thing is probably fake." Hikari suddenly said her eyes giving an empty look as it stares down to the ground.

The Role-Holders and the former foreigner stared at the keyblade wielder as she becomes quiet. This was actually the first time they ever saw this calm…quiet… yet a sad look on her face. The combined faraway look and the small frown made her look more mysterious and distant. For all they can conclude, this wasn't the always happy, childish, and mischievous girl. This was the darker side…

"I mean… Most people hate me because of my job. They think that I'm the one bringing danger to them everywhere I go." Hikari gave another loud sigh, messing up her short-cut brown hair. She remembered perfectly when she helped a group of people at the underground city of Radiant Garden. She followed a Heartless down a sewer and found the underground city. The city was almost in ruins, the Heartless were attacking random citizens. The brunette did what she could. She summoned her keyblade and terminated all of the Heartless at the underground city. After the Heartless were gone, the citizens began to shout, critic, and even throw random things at the keyblade wielder. A frown was seen on her lips as she remembered the memories. "Some of them keep their hate to their own, some of them want us to leave, and some of them even want us dead. Me and my friends got used to it… We actually understand because what they say is true… We're a magnet for trouble… I bet you guys will probably end up hating me too." She grinned sheepishly.

A laugh broke the silence.

"Why would I hate you when you're amusing to me?" A tall man with brown hair asked.

Hikari gave a shrugged. "I dunno…"

Ace smiled and kneeled down on one knee, "As a Knight, it is my duty to make a cute maiden happy~!" He kissed the back of Hikari's hand.

Hikari's nose scrunched up in disgust.

_Cooties…_

"Oh we will never hate you!" A high pitch squeal reached into the keyblade wielder's ears. Her eyes slightly narrowed to Vivaldi, staring at her with a confused look. The beautiful Red Queen was hugging one of the most hated people in the whole entire universe! Sure, most people respect and like the keyblade wielders for protecting them from the Heartless. But mostly, there was more dislike than like. "You are too interesting and adorable to be disliked by us! We know what will cheer you up! Let us have an afternoon tea party just for you!" She exclaims hugging Hikari with the plush toy squished between their cheeks.

"Uh… thanks I guess…" Hikari blushed in embarrassment as she scratched the back of her head.

"Hey! Go find another foreigner, Old Hag! New Onee-chan is ours for the day!" Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum exclaimed with glares, narrowing their axes to the Queen's neck.

A visible vein popped on Vivaldi's forehead as she broke the hug. "OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!" She exclaimed angrily, pointing her index finger at the twins.

"Hey! Don't be rude to Queen Vivaldi you brats! She's the Queen! Show some respect!" Hikari shouted, smacking the twins at the same time.

Julius scoffed, "This is coming from a girl who leaves the tower after intruding and referring me as 'July' right after I told you my name." The Mortician closed his midnight blue eyes with an emotionless look.

"Dude… Let it go already!" Hikari shouted, shaking her fist at Julius. "I didn't mean to call you that! It's just… it's just—! Your hair is so beautiful long! More beautiful than my girl friends! I thought you were a girl! A word of advice… Cut your hair!" She exclaimed.

Julius chocked on his own saliva, coughing as he covers his mouth. How…rude! He glared daggers at the brunette, who shrunk as she hid behind Ace. She had on a fearful look with a blush across her cheeks. She was probably embarrassed or mad. The Mortician kept on glaring daggers at the girl as she came out from behind Ace, completely full of herself again. Sure he had long _beautiful_ hair, but it was kept in a 'manly' way! The last few foreigners thought he looked handsome in his hairstyle, but this new foreigner seemed to think him as a girl than a fully grown man, much to his annoyance.

Nightmare chuckled as he buried himself in a thick blanket around his body. "How about we head back to the Clover Tower? The event is over and—and I'm feeling terrible…" he groaned out, coughing and hacking into the blanket.

Hikari nodded her head, "Right, hey… Where the heck are the rest of us? I thought I saw them in the tent." She scratched the back of her head as half of the Faceless and five Role-Holders were missing. She was sure that she saw Blood talking to Alice before the show even started. "They didn't go back now did they?" she spun around to the large tent behind her.

"No, they did not," Gray answered, walking towards Hikari with a sticky bandage in his hands. Before they left for the event, the former assassin brought a first aid kit along with him. He knew that something bad was going to happen wither to his Lord or to the new foreigner. He couldn't trust the new foreigner to be on her own, since the last time she was left alone, she was badly injured. He smiled as he sticks the sticky bandage on Hikari's cheek, looks like bringing the first aid kit was the best idea ever. "They left after Blood proclaimed some of Gowland's property. The Dutch doesn't seem to be pleased. The two territories started up another war to see who gets the property." He explained.

"Ah…" Hikari nodded her head in acknowledgement. "Wait a minute… if your boss is fighting, then why are you two brats still here? Shouldn't you two be fighting alongside with your so-called-boss?" She asked.

Alice turned her attention from Peter to the Bloody Twins. "She's right… What are you two doing here?" she asked with her arms crossed.

Dee and Dum grinned sheepishly, "We're skipping out on work to play with New Onee-chan~!" they both sung happily.

"Such impolite children!" Vivaldi narrowed her staff to the twins with a cold look. The Faceless guards behind her know what would be coming next. They got their sword out of its holsters one by one, preparing to fight the Bloody Twins. Truthfully, the Faceless guards were a bit terrified of the Bloody Twins. They aren't called the Bloody Twins for nothing. "Off with their heads!" The queen ordered.

"Eeeeehhh?!" Dee and Dum complained, although, their tone didn't express any surprise or shock. It was more like amusement in their tone. "We don't want to lose our heads just yet, Old Hag. We want to play~!" they both exclaimed.

Julius let out a deep sigh. "I'm heading back to the tower…" He said in a low voice, only the ones near him could hear his words. "I have to fix some clocks before Ace brings back a few more…" he continued slowly, observing the foreigner beside him.

"Hmmm," Hikari hummed, crossing her hands behind her head coolly. The Mortician observed her expression with his keen midnight blue eyes. From the looks of her idiotic grin and neutral looking eyes, she's completely clueless. He sighed in relief. He didn't want this one to be terrified of his job just yet like the other former foreigners. "Right… You're the clockmaker or clock-fixer… Good luck with that… I salute you for being able to stand in the same room with many alarm clocks… I can't even stand one alarm clock." The brunette sighed.

Alice placed her index finger pressed against her lips to Julius. He could easily translate the look she was giving. It says 'she-doesn't-know-anything-about-the-people-of-Won derland-has-clocks-as-hearts'. The Mortician gave a curt nod, understanding. His clock may be the coldest, even colder than the Lizard and the Mad Hatter, but he still has a soft spot for a certain chestnut-haired girl named Alice Liddell.

"Which reminds me," Ace snapped his fingers in realization and he reached out to grab a sack with red stains. The Knight of Hearts turn to the small brunette, who was eyeing the blood stained sack carefully. "Here you go Julius~ another sack of clocks!" he sang happily, handing the sack to the man.

Hikari raised an eyebrow, _'I didn't know Ace likes painting…'_ she thought after looking at the red stains on the light-brown-colored sack. The Knight shook the sack a little making a small clanging noise. The noises were probably because clocks were hitting against other clocks as it shook. The brunette only shrugged as she turned away to Alice. _'I guess everyone at the Castle of Hearts like red paint… Gotta remember that…'_ she continued with her thoughts.

Nightmare gave a small chuckle as he read Hikari's thoughts. It was funny, yet amusing to him. The new foreigner's thoughts were interesting. She was impressed by such little things. A smile came up to the sickly dream demon's lips as he saw Hikari munching down on another hot dog. Alice was scolding her that if she ate too much, it would be unhealthy for her. The young foreigner turned away from the scolding and continued on eating as if she didn't hear a thing. She was somehow obsessed with the unhealthy food. The sickly dream demon read her thoughts again. He chuckled. Hikari was simply thinking that hot dogs are healthy because she overheard a Faceless child say so to his friends.

Oh, so naïve…

The sick dream demon began to cough and hack blood all of the sudden.

"Lord Nightmare," Gray began, giving Nightmare a tissue. "We should return back… Your conditions are getting worse." He said.

Hikari raised an eyebrow. She stood on her toes to reach Nightmare's ear. "You haven't drunk the medicine I gave you?" she whispered quietly.

Nightmare felt his cheeks burning a little. "N-No! It's suspicious looking…" He answered back in a whisper.

Hikari sighed before grinning, "Well it's not! I've been drinking those things for five years and despite it taste disgusting, it actually works." She said before taking a few steps back. She tucked her hands inside the pockets of her jacket. A goofy grin made its way up to her lips. "Trust me, Nightmare! Have I ever lied to you?" She winked.

"Technically no, it's just been a few time periods… so I don't actually know your personality just yet, my dear." Nightmare answered bluntly.

Hikari sweat dropped as she tumbled on her own steps. "Uh… I guess you're right…" She laughed nervously. "Hey, uh, Alice? I'm not a liar right?" she asked.

Alice hums, earning a 'hey' from the brunette. "No, but you sure can scare the living heck out of me with your jokes…" She said, tapping her chin.

"Hehehe, sorry about that hot dog incident…" Hikari apologized for the second time.

Alice smiled, "I already told you, it's alright. Don't worry about it." She walked towards Julius, Nightmare, and Gray who were patiently waiting for the two girls to join them. The chestnut-haired girl stopped at her path as she didn't hear any footsteps. She gracefully turns around to see Hikari smiling at her. "Aren't you coming?" Alice asked curiously.

"Uh… I think I'll hang with the Bloody Brats for today. I did kind of promise to them that I'll spend a day with them…" Hikari said, rubbing the back of her neck with a sheepish grin. "And I should've never made that promise…" she mumbled to herself.

Dee and Dum quickly turned their heads towards Hikari. In a flash, they both lunged at the brunette with squeals. "Yay! New Onee-chan is coming over to play with us~!" they both sang.

"GAH! Huggy brats!" Hikari shouted in horror as she stumbled a bit at the extra-extra-extra weight.

Alice laughed nervously, "Ah… I got it… Have fun! And you two! Don't you dare do something funny to her! Got it?!" She raised her fist at the two boys.

"Yes ma'am!" The twins saluted with huge grins.

With that, the Clover Tower's resident and Alice left the Circus. Hikari watch their backs as they went deeper into the forest. They were no longer in view after a few minutes. The brunette sighed. She wanted to spend more time with the Clock Tower's residents and Alice too. Personally, she thinks that Julius' personality and appearance are almost similar to Riku back at Radiant Garden. Alice was really sweet and caring… just like Kairi… As for Nightmare and Gray, she doesn't know yet.

"C'mon New Onee-chan! Let's play!" Dee and Dum grabbed each of Hikari's hand, dragging her towards the direction of the Hatter's Mansion.

"Hold on you brats!" Hikari complained as she was being dragged away.

Vivaldi spun around, her red dress swaying gracefully in the wind. "Stop them!" she demanded.

"Ah, I'll come over to your Castle, Queen Vivaldi! I prooooomise!" Hikari extended the 'o' in 'promise' as she was literally dragged by the twins.

Vivaldi and Ace stared at the brunette. They're going to keep that promise.

She really should stop making promises…

* * *

3=~x~X~x~=E

"Slow down! You brats are wearing out the heel of my boots!" Hikari shouted, as she could see the dust clouds behind them.

The Bloody Twins had dragged her through the forest and even when they've reached the Mansion, they kept on dragging her. A few servants stop from doing their job to stare at the three, running across the large beautiful halls. The twins quickly pulled into a complete halt, giving a chance for Hikari to breathe. The brunette took her time to suck in a deep breath, feeling exhausted after the little drag-and-run. She wiped the sweat off her forehead with her hand. After her breathing went back to normal, she stood back up to her full height to see a door in front of her.

"Where are we?" Hikari questioned.

"At the Mansion, of course!" Dum answered with a grin as he turned to her.

Hikari rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms. "I know that… but where exactly?" she asked again.

"This is our room!" Dee sung happily. "We're going to play a game in our room!"

"We're not playing hide and seek now are we? You two seemed to be too old to be playing that…" Hikari said with a smirk.

Dum blinked, tilting his head to the side. "But wouldn't that mean you're also too old, New Onee-chan?" He 'innocently' asked.

A visible vein popped on Hikari's forehead. How dare they?! "Oi, I'm not that old you ignorant brats." She placed on a fake smile, but she was failing miserably as the corner of her lips kept on twitching every second. "Just because you two are younger than me, doesn't mean you can call me old, brats. I'm seventeen and still young, idiots." She mocked.

"Eeeeh?! New-Oneechan is seventeen?!" Dee and Dum asked with a surprised tone.

Hikari scoffed, "What? Were you expecting me to be younger?" she asked bitterly.

Dee shook his head with a bright smile. "Nope!" He popped the 'p' as he grabbed Hikari's hand. Dum nodded his head happily as he reached his hand to open the door. "The last Onee-chan was twenty six! And Alice was eighteen when she first got here~" they both sung.

"So uh… Alice is now twenty six, right?" Hikari asked with a cough and a nervous look. The brunette knows that it's sensitive to ask about a woman's age. She did that once and regretted after asking that. The middle-aged woman kept on smacking the poor keyblade wielder with her old purple purse! And of course, it hurts! A lot!

Dum shakes his head. "Nu-uh! Onee-chan is twenty now!" he chirped.

Hikari scratched the back of her neck. "What the heck are you two talking about? First you say Alice is twenty six, and then says she's eighteen when she first got here, and then I ask if she's twenty six… you two answered twenty. Which one is it?" She raised an eyebrow with a confused look.

"Alice Onee-chan is twenty now! We were talking about the previous foreigner!" Dee answered with a bright look.

'_Previous…?'_ Hikari thought. _'Previous… what the heck does that mean? Did the brats mean there was someone else besides Alice and me, in Wondeland?'_ She stared into space, thinking hard. She was lost in her own thoughts that she didn't realize she was standing inside of the twins' room. _'Huh… I guess I have to ask Nightmare about that later…' _she shakes her head, closing her eyes as she sighed.

"Is New Onee-chan okay?" Dee asked, his blue eyes gleamed brightly.

"Huh? Oh yeah, sorry you brats. I was lost in thoughts…" Hikari trailed off as her eyes wondered around the twins' room. Her jaw dropped as her eyes widened in shock and awe. The Bloody Twins' room was full of weaponry! Starting from harmless safety scissors to deadly axes and swords, they were hung everywhere! Her blue eyes sparkled brightly as she began to memorize every weapon the twins had. "Is… is this what I think it is?! It is! It's the most beautiful weaponry room I have ever seen!" she squealed.

Dee and Dum stared at the overly-excited foreigner. She was particularly observing every weapon they had. They heard a whistle escape her lips as she spun around to get a three hundred and six view of the room. The boys stared as if she was crazy. It was odd seeing a girl who likes weapons as much as they do. The other foreigners seemed to be afraid of their room because of some unknown reasons—which is now known because of the sharp and deadly weapons hanging around.

"Wew~ your room is amazing, brats! I didn't know you guys like weapons to this kind of level!" Hikari laughed and gave a silly grin, looking like a small kid who just entered candy land. "I always thought you brats were the candy lover type." She said, placing her hands on her hips.

"Eeeeehhh?! New Onee-chan thought that?! Waaaaaa!" Dee and Dum cried in unison, faking their cry with sobs, sniffles, and of course eye-drops to make it all real.

Hikari panicked. She never knew her words would offend the twins so much that it stabs their little hearts! Sure her words sometime stung, but her friends were used to it and never take her that seriously either. A pang of guilt was defiantly eating her alive again as the two boys began to cry louder. All she did was saying what's really on her mind. It was her thing… bluntness… She really did thought they were the candy lover type of boys. Quickly, the brunette crouched down to the twins' eye level.

"H-Hey! Don't cry because of my words, brats!" Hikari nervously tried to make the twins stop their crying. Dee and Dum heard her words, but they choose to ignore her. The brunette pulled on her own hair, trying to pull it off her head. Guilt… Curse the magic of guilt! She let out a sharp breath before pulling the twins into a comforting embrace. "Darn brats… you really know how to make me feel guilty…" she murmured into their ears.

Dee and Dum slowly stop crying. A mischievous smirk play upon their lips as they placed a hand on Hikari's back, since she was hugging them. She can't really see the smirks on their small framed faces because the twins were leaning their heads against her shoulders, nuzzling their face to her shoulder. They inhaled a deep sniff, taking in the scent of the brunette's short soft cut brown hair. They had to admit… Hikari does smell pretty like Alice~

"A-Are you mad at us New Onee-chan?" Dee sobbed, as the smirk never left his face.

Hikari sighed, "Of course not… What makes you think I'm mad at you brats?" She asked with a small smile.

"W-We thought that New Onee-chan doesn't like us because we don't like candies." Dum said, sniffling.

Hikari's eyes softened as she rubbed their backs. "Nah… I was just kidding because I thought all kids love sweet treats… Back at my place, every single kid love candies and such… Sorry, Brats… I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." She continued to rub their backs as gently as she could. She saw the twins flinched. Startled, she quickly stopped. "Sorry… again… I'm not good at comforting kids or anyone either… so when you're feeling sad or anything, I think I'm not the best person to go to." She said sheepishly.

Dee sniffled as he wiped his fake tears with his sleeve. "B-But New Onee-chan makes us feel… good." He stuttered.

Dum nodded in agreement.

Hikari coughed, feeling a bit awkward. "Uh… thanks? I guess…" She rubbed the back of her head, breaking the hug, placing a hand on one of their shoulders. "Now, how about that game you two want me to play?" she quickly clapped her hands together, changing the subject.

Dee and Dum smirked, but Hikari didn't notice it. "Sit her New Onee-chan~!" they both patted at the couch.

The brunette shrugged before sitting down. "You know… I'm not that new here, brats." She grunted, crossing her arms over her chest, huffing a little.

Dum smiled as he and Dee slightly bowed their heads. "Close your eyes New Onee-chan!" he chirps.

"Uh… Why?" Hikari asked with a questionable eyebrow rose up.

"Just do it! We promise that it's a part of the game!" Dee urged as held up his index finger, wiggling it in a 'tsk'-ing way.

"Fine…" Hikari grumbles before closing her eyes with her eyebrows furrowed down.

The Bloody Twins grinned mischievously to themselves. Hikari bought it… She actually bought all of those! All of those fake sniffling and tears actually worked! They never thought it would work on her since she was the type of girl who seemed to be a gruff. Turns out, Hikari was a softie in the inside! The twins' grins widened a little as they grabbed a knife and sat on each of Hikari's side. Whoever said the twins weren't good actors—cough, Eliot, cough—is defiantly wrong. They are excellent little actors.

"Tell us New Onee-chan," Dee began as he drew the knife closer to Hikari's neck as Dum drew his knife closer to her cheek. Hikari responded with a hum coming out from her throat. Oh how it looks so unprotected now. They could just slit her throat open in a matter of seconds! But they choose not to, yet. Depends on how interesting she would take this all in. "How do you feel? Anything… new?" Dum continued for his twin, smirking widely.

"Well…" Hikari began as he drummed her fingers on her lap. "You two are sitting next to me, I'm beginning to see purple spots or blobs, the room is a bit cold, and I feel something is against my cheek and throat. Are you two cold or something? Your fingers are freezing cold!" she shivered.

Dee and Dum exchanged glances, "Hey, New Onee-chan? Do you know why we're called the Bloody Twins?" Dee asked, his blue eyes darkening.

"Yes… No… Maybe? I don't know." Hikari let out a deep sigh. "Probably because you brats caused a lot of ruckus with Elliot and he decided to call you the 'Bloody Twins'. Bloody as the curse and Twins because you two are twins." She said.

"Hey…" The twins complained in unison, making Hikari smirk in victory.

"What kind of game is this anyway? I'm not playing hide and seek." Hikari sighed, crossing her leg.

Dum laughed, "We are playing~!" He sung happily.

"Playing what exactly? I've been sitting here for what? Three minutes and you haven't even started any game… yet." Hikari asked again.

"You want to start?" Dee asked and Hikari slowly nodded. "Okay~ let's start! Hold still okay, New Onee-chan?" the brunette only gave a curt nod.

Hikari waited for the twins to start up their games. It's been three minutes since she sat on the couch with the twins asking silly questions. They sure take their time for preparing a game. She waited patiently for the twins to start. She was never really the patient type of girl, but this was an expectation. The keyblade wielder has hurt the twins' feelings and she need to make them feel happy. After all, they are kind of adorable when they aren't arguing with her.

A loud sigh escape her lips as she stood up. "That's it… I'm going to the kitchen." she said, crossing her hands behind her head, looking at the twins with a grin. "I think I'll play the game after… what do you say, you two coming? I'm gonna grab some food~!"

Dee and Dum stared at Hikari with big eyes. "Hey, New Onee-chan? You probably are going to get fat if you eat all the time." Dee said, poking the side of Hikari's stomach with a mischievous grin.

Hikari felt a large vein popped on her forehead.

"And we think New Onee-chan gain weight since the last time we see you." Dum continued, grinning.

"Oh really?" Hikari's eyebrow began to twitch. She counted from one to ten repeatedly, trying to calm down.

"Yeah! New Onee-chan's cheeks are chubbier!" Dum poked Hikari's cheeks with a grin.

"Ah…" Hikari decided to ignore the twins. _'They're just little kids.'_ She thought with her eyebrows furrowed down.

"Boo~ no fun!" Dee and Dum huffed as Hikari wouldn't reach to their insults.

Hikari gave a sigh of relief.

* * *

3=~x~X~x~=E

"Hey New Onee-chan? Can you get the cookies over there?" Dee asked as he took a sip from his tea.

Hikari nodded and stood up from her chair. The Bloody Twins and the keyblade wielder went to the kitchen which took them five minutes just to get there. The kitchen was beautiful and large! The white fancy and expensive kitchen has everything! From fancy teapots to fancy things that the keyblade wielder doesn't even know existed! The beautiful marble floor was clean, not a single speck of dust was seen. Her boots even squeaks in every step she took.

The twins—rudely—ordered the maids and butlers to prepare tea for them and then leave them alone. Hikari smacked the back of their heads as they threatened to kill them if they don't do what they said. The brunette puts the twins in a headlock as she laughed nervously at the confused, yet frightened servants.

"Ugh…" Hikari grunted as she tried to reach the box of cookie at the very top shelf. Curse her for being too short to grab that box! Sure she stood at 5'6", but due to the fact that Blood made the shelf up high, she can't really reach the very top even with standing with her toes. She huffed and crossed her arms before trying once more, even if she has to climb up the counter, she would do it! The twins wanted the cookies… "Darn shelf for being so high…" she mumbled under her breath.

"Need any help?"

"No." Hikari bluntly snaps. A long arm went up higher than her to grab the box. The brunette could only stare at the arm as it was covered by a fabric, a long sleeved suit to be exact. Whoever this guy is, he is defiantly not the twins. "Ah, you don't have to do that." She said as the box was handed to her hand.

"Anything for New Onee-chan~!" The man sang happily, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

Hikari blinked once.

Twice…

Clearly this voice doesn't belong to Dee or Dum, but then again, he did call her 'New Onee-chan'. She tilted her head up to see a man with dark long hair and a pair of blue eyes that reminded her of the Bloody Blue Twin. He wore a striped suit with a white shirt underneath. The man was smiling down at her as hekept a firm grip around her shoulders.

"Awww… That's mean brother…" Another voice cried. Hikari raised an eyebrow as she got out of the man's grasp to look at the other man. He had shot dark hair with red hairpins. He wore the exact same suit as the man in front of her. The only thing that was different about this man was the color of his eyes and the length of his hair. His eyes were crimson red as it glinted with mischief. "You have to share with your twin brother!" he sighed heavily, standing up from the chair.

Then it hit Hikari like a frying pan.

Where are the twins?

"Who the heck are you two!?" Hikari asked with an alerted tone, ignoring the cookies were all scattered on the clean floor. She was sure that Dee and Dum were in this room a few seconds ago. "Where are the twins?! Answer me before I kill the both of you!" She demanded as she grabbing the long-haired one's collar.

The one with long hair chuckled as he gripped Hikari's wrist. "We're clock-broken New Onee-chan…" He sighed heavily. "You don't remember us!" The other man whined, childishly.

Hikari blinked. '_That childish manner…'_

"Dee and Dum?! No way!" She frantically yelled. "That's impossible! Dee and Dum are just around fourteen! You two are like…eighteen or so! I don't believe you! What did you two do to them?!" She accused.

"Awww but New Onee-chan… we're not that old." The short haired one pouted, crossing his arms over his chest as he scooted closer to the other man. "It's me New Onee-chan! It's Tweedle Dum!" he exclaimed happily.

"And Tweedle Dee of course!" Dee grinned.

"Are you serious? Are you two really Dee and Dum?" Hikari asked with a rather confused look.

"Hehehe~ we can change our age!" They both sung happily.

Hikari's eyes widened. "EEWWWWW! So you guys can turn really, and I mean, _really _old?! Oh that's just wrong! I can't believe you two are _old_! Now I really doubt everyone's age here!" She frantically cried, trying to struggle out of Dee grip.

"We can only switch our age to fourteen and eighteen, New Onee-chan!" Dee said, giving a chuckle.

"Uh… I knew that!" Hikari quickly exclaimed with a loud laugh.

Dee and Dum stared at the brunette with a sweat drop.

The two started to laugh.

It was Hikari's turn to stare at them confusedly.

The brunette backed away from the twins to the glass cupboard filled with priceless porcelain teapots and cups. She felt the cupboard shifted a little, but she managed to steady it with her hands. Blue eyes narrowed to the pair of fake twins in front of her. They do look like Dee and Dum, but changing ages was impossible, unless of course they were in the Mark of Mastery Exam…

"Hey, don't tell us that you're afraid New Onee-chan~." Dee smiled as he pulled a strand of Hikari's hair, smelling it. He closed his eyes, smiling widely. "We are Dee and Dum, New Onee-chan." He reassured with an eyelid open.

Dum did the same, "How do you like us now, New Onee-chan?" He asked.

Hikari glared. "Get off! PERSONAL SPACE PEOPLE!" She screamed, pushing both twins away.

The cupboard behind them began to shake. One of the teapots wobbled and fell off the tallest cabinets. Hikari quickly balanced the cupboard, but she didn't manage to balance out one porcelain teapot.

"New Onee-chan! Look out!" Both Dee and Dum cried as they pulled Hikari into a hug, protecting her from the porcelain teapot.

"You little—!" Hikari's mouth turned to a scowl.

_**Prang **_

The porcelain broke apart into tiny pieces as it collides with the floor. Dee and Dum stared with wide eyes as they saw Hikari took the hit instead of them. They were sure that they were the ones above her, but at the last second, they did felt someone pulled them closer. They never expected she would take the hit for them. No other foreigner would do that for them… except for Alice.

"Geez… You two are really troublesome…" Hikari said with a small smile.

"New Onee-chan took the hit," Dum said, still a bit shock. His crimson eyes stared at the broken teapot on the marbled floor. "Why?" Dee continues, looking as shock as his brother.

Hikari sighed and tucked in the loose strands of the twins' hair behind their ears. "I can't let you took the hit for me… You two are still kids. No matter how many times you can switch your age, you two are always and will be kids in my eyes." she finished with a smile.

Dee and Dum could only stare at her with wide eyes, too shock to form words.

"Ah…" Hikari said, pushing herself off of the twins. She scratched the back of her head with a sigh. The brunette was feeling guilty because she broke a teapot, a very expensive looking teapot that is, and it's probably Blood's favorite! "Sorry about your teapot… I'll pay for it some—GAH!"

"New Onee-chan!" Dee and Dum turned back into their younger self as they lunged themselves to Hikari. The keyblade wielder falls backwards, landing on her back. "We're sorry New Onee-chan! We didn't mean to hurt you!" they cried loudly.

"Ugh… Again? Look, I told you, it wasn't your fault. It was my fault… I'm the one who bump into the cupboard." Hikari scratched the back of her head, trying to push herself up with her elbows, but failed to do so because of the twins. "And don't worry about the teapot, I'll talk to Droopy myself and somehow pay for the teapot." she said.

Dee and Dum exchange glanced and smirked. A sudden poof was heard as the twins turned back into their eighteen year old form. Dee and Dum was on top of the clueless keybalde wielder as she could only stared confusedly at them, blinking a few times.

"Hey, New Onee-chan? You can pay off Boss—," Dum was cut off by a loud and high pitch voice.

"Dee~ Dum~! Where are you~?" The voice sung happily as it came closer and closer to the kitchen.

Hikari raised an eyebrow as she saw Dee and Dum sighed. "What the—? Who's that? It—I mean she isn't Alice right? 'Cause if it's Alice… I don't believe it…" Her left eye twitch as the voice kept on calling for Dee and Dum.

Dee shook his head. "Nope! Not Onee-chan!" He cried. "It's—," he paused as the door slammed open.

"Oh Dee~ Dum~! There you are! I've been—," The woman chirped happily as she steps inside the kitchen. Hikari tilted her head so she could see the woman. Her image of the woman was upside down though, since Dee and Dum were still pinning her down. The woman had curly blonde hair with red highlights. Her eyes were the colors of bright emerald. Her eyelashes batted furiously as she stared at the scene. She wore a tight black tank top that has a printed white rose on the middle. She wore a mini skirt. It fluttered a little, showing her long reviled legs. She wore some kind of shoes that's not familiar with the keyblade wielder. The once cheerful tone she had, changed into a sour one. "Who is she?" she hissed out.

Hikari laughed nervously, "Uh… Hi'ya! The name's Hikari! What's your name?" she cheerfully asked as she stood up, straightening her jacket. She reached out her hand for the want to shake it. Instead, the brunette waited for the blonde to shake it.

The woman in front of her blinked a few times. "Where's Blood?" She asked, her head tilted to the side.

Hikari puts on a dumbfound look. "Huh?" She raised an eyebrow. Did this woman just asked where Blood—Blood Dupre is? "Uh… I don't know? I haven't seen him since this morning, I think… the last time I see him is at the event earlier." She tapped her chin, humming slightly.

The woman huffed as she crossed her arms over her rather reviled chest. "Hey, you, brat." She called out quietly, so only Hikari could hear. The brunette let out a small 'huh' in repond. She backed away a step when the blonde came closer. The woman stood on her toes as she scowled. "Listen here you, b****! If I ever see or even see you with Blood… I'll make sure you won't ever see daylight again." she hissed.

Hikari instantly paled as she backs away, waving her hands up in defeat. "N-No way! I don't even like him!" _He's annoying!_ She finished in her mind, not wanting to get killed or hit by this woman.

The woman smirked. "Good! Or else I'll have to make you leave, just like all of the other foreigners and Alice…" She growled out the name Alice.

Hikari stared at the woman with cold sweat running down her face. "A-Ah… Uh… What's your name?" She started again, trying to be friendly, but seemed to fail with her uneasy and quivering tone.

"Ceh, I don't have time for you," The woman crossed her arms as she pushes pass Hikari like a door. The blonde woman batted her eyelashes at Dee and Dum, who were still sitting at the floor. "Now, have you seen Blood? It's been a few time periods and I missed him so much!" she sighed dreamily, her tone turning sweet at the twins.

"Sorry Obaa-chan… we didn't see Boss." Dum answered, standing up to his feet and helped his brother up a second after.

"Oh poo… Too bad…" The woman sighed with a slight pout. "Well, if you find him, tell him that I'll be in his room~!" she sang happily as she winked at the twins and flashed a glare to Hikari.

That woman was giving her goosebumps. She was scarier than Saix when in Berserk Mode, Riku, and Cid combined! Facing one of them was bad, but facing all of them in one body? Way worse than a lecture or a beating of a life time.

"Man… Who was that woman…" Hikari wondered aloud.

"That was Obaa-chan… We don't like her…" Dee and Dum replied, appearing next to Hikari.

Hikari could only nod as she stared at the door, hoping that 'Obaa-chan' couldn't come barging in again. A loud sigh escaped her lips as she scratched the back of her head. Dum gave a hug from behind, wrapping his arms around her shoulders as he smiled warmly at her, breathing in her hair, as if Obaa-chan never came in the kitchen.

What is with the twins sniffing her hair?

She only borrowed Alice's shampoo…

* * *

**A/N: Ah yes, she is a new OC, but somehow… the Antagonist… somehow… **

**Dwarf Woodlands: Can you guys guess what this place is? It has seven Dwarfs, a princess, a prince, an old evil queen, an apple, and a mirror! Yup! It is! It's from Snow White! :D**

**And the part where Hikari mention the Magic Mirror, revering to Black, she is actually comparing him to the Magic Mirror! XD**

**I'm also sorry for my writing of Black's foul language…**

**Special thanks to: Alice-in-Wonderland-fan888, FallenInk, ShinobiShinigami58 for adding this story to their favs!**

**Special thanks to: Alice-in-Wonderland-fan888, MegaKiraraLover, Piplup13, bluedancingkittykat for adding this story to their alerts!**

**Reviews are very appreciated, and please no flames! **

**R&R please! **


End file.
